Sam Jones Dr. Greer, Jr.

He grew up in Water Valley, Texas and then went to the University of Texas. After receiving his undergraduate degree, he attended medical school at the University of Texas Medical School in Galveston, Texas. There he met his future wife, Georgeanna Herrmann and they were married in 1943 after graduation. Together they performed their residencies in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where Sam completed his residency in 1945.

After a brief stint in the army Sam returned to The University of Michigan where he did a fellowship in thoracic surgery. He then moved to San Antonio, Texas and established a private practice as a cardiothoracic surgeon in 1951 at the Nix Building.

Dr. Greer was a pioneer in surgery in San Antonio. He performed the first open heart surgery using the heart-lung machine in San Antonio in 1957. Dr. Greer also installed the first pacemaker in San Antonio in 1964. He cared immensely for his patients and had forty wonderful years of practice.

Sam was preceded in death by his wife Dr. Georgeanna Greer. After Georgeanna's death, Sam married Evelyn Heidt and they had sixteen happy years together traveling and going to the opera. Sam was known for his many hobbies. He spent years enthusiastically practicing his hobbies of photography, pottery, collecting antique medicine bottles and medical advertising, vegetable gardening Sam loved compost, and at last became an accomplished baker. He is survived by his wife, Evelyn Greer, and his three children Cassie Gainey and her husband Mark; Mac Greer and his wife Karla; and Dr. Gretchen Whisenant and her husband Dr. Dewey Whisenant. He is also survived by six grandchildren Matthew Gainey and his wife Katherine, Peter Gainey, Celeste and Russell Whisenant, and Gretchen and Mae Greer.

There will be a private memorial service for the family.