Steven Darryl Jabaley M.D.

May 22, 1951 – October 19, 2026

Dr. Steven Darryl “Chip” Jabaley, 75, died peacefully at his home in LaGrange, Georgia, on Monday, October 19, 2026, ten months after a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He was still practicing anesthesiology, the work he loved, less than two weeks before his death.

Chip was born in LaGrange on May 22, 1951, the only child of James J. and Bette M. Jabaley. He graduated from LaGrange High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Presbyterian College in 1973. There he made friends he kept for life and met Debbie Smith of Greenville, South Carolina, whom he married on December 11, 1976. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of Georgia in 1977 and completed his residency in anesthesiology at the University of California, San Francisco, where he served as chief resident and received the inaugural Stuart C. Cullen Award for Excellence in Clinical Anesthesia.

In 1980 Chip joined the Medical Center Clinic in Pensacola, Florida, where he practiced for forty-three years. In the early years he did everything: open-heart cases, intensive care, pain management, and trauma. He served as chairman of the Department of Anesthesia at West Florida Hospital from 1996 to 2007 and as medical director of the Medical Center Clinic’s ambulatory surgery center from 2007 until he left Pensacola in 2023. In 2015 the Escambia County Medical Society honored him with its Lifetime Member Award.

Teaching was the other half of his career. For nearly thirty years he taught airway management to Pensacola’s paramedics and EMTs. As a clinical associate professor at the Florida State University College of Medicine, he built the school’s anesthesia elective, taught its medical students, and mentored pre-med students from FSU and the University of West Florida. In 2013 FSU’s medical students voted him their best teacher in Pensacola.

In late 2023 Chip came home to LaGrange and joined the anesthesia staff at Wellstar West Georgia Medical Center, where he loved working with the student nurse anesthetists and continued to practice after his diagnosis in December 2025.

Chip was a man of a thousand stories, and he told every one of them. He was gregarious, generous with his time, and quick to pick up the phone or go out of his way for anyone who needed help. He leaves behind an enormous circle of friends all over the country. He loved history and travel, and there was always another place he wanted to see. He was a member of St. Peter’s Catholic Church in LaGrange. He was proud of his training, his patients, the students he taught, and most proud of his family.

He is survived by his wife of nearly fifty years, Debbie Smith Jabaley; his son, Dr. Craig Steven Jabaley, professor of anesthesiology and chief of the Division of Critical Care Medicine at Emory University; Craig’s wife, Lauren Blythe Struck; and his grandson, Grant Anderson Jabaley, all of Atlanta. He was preceded in death by his parents.

A graveside service will be held Monday, November 16, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Shadowlawn Cemetery, 300 East Bacon Street, LaGrange. A gathering of family and friends will follow immediately after, at the Truitt Vanderbilt Club, 304 Broad Street, LaGrange.

The family is grateful to his oncology and hospice teams and to the colleagues who worked alongside him over forty-six years. In lieu of flowers, Chip asked that memorial gifts be made to the UCSF Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Care (giving.ucsf.edu/fund/department-of-anesthesia-and-perioperative-care) or to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (stjude.org).

All arrangements are made by Striffler-Hamby Mortuary, 1010 Mooty Bridge Road, LaGrange, GA 30240 (706) 884-8636.

Those wishing to share a condolence or remembrance with the family may do so by visiting www.shlagrange.com