Richard Henry Carnahan, D.D.S.

Exactly one week and twelve hours after losing his beloved wife, Adele, Richard Henry Carnahan, DDS, through death, rejoined his wife. Richard H. Carnahan, DDS was born to Margaret Bailey Carnahan and Henry Welch Carnahan March 12, 1912 in Big Wells, Dimmit County, Texas. As the middle child, he was predeceased by older siblings, Elizabeth Carnahan Douglas and John Carnahan and younger brothers, Bailey Carnahan and Preston Carnahan, DDS. His father a druggist, merchant and farmer, moved the family to San Antonio in 1916 and narrowed his vocational interest to owning and operating drug stores until his death in 1952. "Madge" taught violin and piano and was an organist at Beacon Hill Methodist Church.

Richard, a.k.a. "Dick" or "The Chief" graduated from Main Avenue High School in 1930. As a member of the track team, he was a city finalist in the high jump. He and his brothers worked behind the soda counter at the family's drug store throughout junior-high and high school. The Buckeyes, a Beacon Hill Boy's Athletic Club, played a prominent role in the lives of Dick, his brothers and their contemporaries. Their football team challenged other San Antonio youth teams with notable success.

Dick attended St. Mary's University and graduated Doctor of Dental Surgery in 1935 from Baylor University College of Dentistry. He was the only surviving member of his dental school class. After graduation, he moved to Longview, Texas during the oil boom and practiced dentistry with his classmate's father Dr. Tom Francis. He joined the United States Army Reserves in 1935 along with fellow San Antonian "Ferdie" Arredondo who was also in Longview. In 1937, he became a Second Lieutenant in the regular Army Dental Corp. His stations included Fort DuPont, Delaware; 3rd Cavalry Unit, South Dakota; Fort Hancock, New Jersey and Carlyles Barricks. Pennsylvania where he attended the Medical Field Service School.

In 1940, he met First Lieutenant Adele Cherry, a nurse anesthetist, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Dick and Adele began their near 65-year relationship as husband and wife on November 29, 1940. Dick soon thereafter attended the War College in Washington, D.C. Following Pearl Harbor, when the United States joined the war in Europe, Major Carnahan was deployed in the first support convoy to London. Adele expecting their first child moved to his hometown, San Antonio. As Chief of Dental Section of the General Dispensary, European Theater of Operations, Major Carnahan was among the first recipients of the Legion of Merit in the United Kingdom during the war. Immediately after the invasion of Normandy, he was deployed with the initial medical support team to France. The lines of combat being blurred, his unit was continually mobile throughout Brittany, Belgium and then to Paris when the Allied Forces moved through that city. Dick became aware sometime later that he and his brother, Major Bailey Carnahan were but 40 miles apart when the later was killed in action. Dick's unit went through Germany where from Frankfort they returned to London. From London, Lt. Colonel Carnahan was sent to New York then Washington, D.C. and ultimately to Fort Sam Houston where he served as Chief of Dental Surgery.

Dick left the Army in August of 1946 and began his private practice of dentistry at the Downtown Nix Professional Building in association with Dr. Frank Murray Douglas.

Soon their son Richard, Jr. was joined by sisters, Susan and Margaret. Ever with the support of his loving wife Adele, Dick practiced dentistry for 55 years. He was a Life and 50 Year member of the American and Texas Dental Associations and served as President of the San Antonio District Dental Society. When the Reverend Joe Brown, who had been Bailey Carnahan's roommate at Texas A&M University, began the congregation of St. Luke's Episcopal Church on Cloverleaf in Alamo Heights, the Carnahan's were among the founding families. Dick, as a member of the Vestry served as Senior Warden and Richard, Jr., was the first son to follow his father on that body. Inseparable throughout, Dick and Adele enjoyed their memberships in the Supper Club, Oak Hills Country Club and Club Giraud.

Papa Dick and Grandma Adele are survived by son, Richard 'Corky' Carnahan, Jr., DDS, wife, Chrissie and children, Carey, Colleen, and Richard Carnahan, III; daughter, Susan Carnahan Hawthorne and her daughters, Megan Hawthorne and Elizabeth Hawthorne LeFlore and husband Campbell and daughter, Peggy Carnahan Taylor and husband Larry and her daughters, Maggie Hawthorne and Gretchen Hawthorne Wiestruck, her husband Erick and their children, twins Abigail and Madeline and brother, Ian. Papa Dick left us one day before the Sixtieth Anniversary of VE Day.