Celebration of Life Service with Military Honors for Dr. Thomas (Tommy) L. Sweat Sr. are set for 3:00 p.m. Sunday at First United Methodist Church with Rev. Roger Shock and Rev. Kim Parker officiating. Burial will follow in the Henry Cemetery.
A family and friends gathering for Dr. Thomas will be held Sunday, April 14, 2019 from 1:00 PM to 2:45 PM at First United Methodist Church, 901 N. Fillmore, Corinth, MS.
Dr. Sweat died April 11, 2019 at his residence. He was born on March 12, 1926, in Jackson, Mississippi, while his father, Judge N.S. Sweat, Sr., was serving in the Mississippi State Legislature. Dr. Sweat attended the Corinth, Mississippi, public schools, and graduated from Corinth High School in 1943. He attended Ole Miss from June 1943 until January 1944, when he volunteered for the United States Navy, and while in the Navy was sent to Emory University until May 1945, at which time he was assigned to Parris Island, SC Marine base as a corpsman. After completing his initial service in the Navy, Dr. Sweat returned to Ole Miss, and then entered medical school at the University of Tennessee, graduating in June 1949, and completing his internship at St. Joseph Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, in May 1950.Dr. Sweat went into private practice in Ripley, Mississippi in July 1950, and married Frances Lee Riley of Tupelo on September 30, 1950. He has three children: Tom Sweat of Corinth, Mississippi, Dr. Anne Thompson of Johnson City, Tennessee, and Riley Sweat, Sr., of Nashville, Tennessee. In November 1953 Dr. Sweat returned to the Navy as a Division Medical Officer for Destroyer Division 62 and was stationed at the U.S. Navy Hospital No. 3 in Newport, RI. In December 1955 he returned to Corinth and opened his private medical practice, which he maintained until May 2008, at which time he went to work for the Magnolia Regional Health Center Community Clinic, working with the newly established internal medicine intern program.
During his early years practicing medicine in Corinth, Dr. Sweat and the 13 other local doctors shared the hospital’s emergency room duties, and he delivered 2500 babies during his career. He performed free physicals on Corinth High School athletes, and in 1969 he founded the Coronary Care Unit at Magnolia Hospital, and served as Director for ten years. Dr. Sweat was Chief of Staff at the Community Hospital, and was a board member of the Magnolia Hospital Board of Trustees, serving as chairman for two terms.Dr. Sweat was instrumental in providing training for local paramedics with former Alcorn County Coroner Dan Leeth, and Dr. Sweat has taken a particular interest for many years in recruiting new physicians to the Corinth and greater Alcorn County area. Dr. Sweat was named to the Mississippi State Health Care Commission in 1984.Dr. Sweat was a member of the Corinth Rotary Club for 38 years, and served as president. He was a founding director of Corinth Alcorn Reaching for Excellence (“CARE”), a local charitable organization. Dr. Sweat has made great and persistent efforts for the last 64 years to bring improved and accessible health care to the citizens of Corinth and Alcorn County. He founded the Living Healthy Free Medical Clinic in Corinth five years ago, and has worked there two days a month until just recently.
Dr. Sweat was predeceased by his parents, Judge N.S. Sweat, Sr., and Vivien Dorsey Sweat; his brother, N.S. (Soggy) Sweat, Jr.; and his sister, Vivien Sweat Comfort.
In addition to his children and wife, he is survived by daughter-in-law, Wende Sweat (Riley), and grandchildren Wiles Sweat, Laney Hudson, Thomas R. Sweat, Bett Thompson, May McInnis, Grace Thompson, Watson Sweat, Riley Sweat, Jr., and Cayce Sweat.
Pallbearers will be David Palmer, Hull Davis, Glennan Grady, Bernie Shipp, John Prather, Jimmy Howell, and William Patterson.
Honorary pall bearers will be the Magnolia Hospital Board of Trustees.
Memorials may be made to the First United Methodist Church of Corinth, Mississippi, or to the Living Healthy Free Medical Clinic of Corinth.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.mcpetersfuneraldirectors.com for the Sweat family.
Arrangements are under the care of McPeters Funeral Directors.
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