Dr. Grady Sebastian Clinkscales, Jr.

1931-2026

Dr. Grady Sebastian Clinkscales, Jr., a prominent hand surgeon in Atlanta for decades, died on April 27, 2026 at the age of 94. Dr. Clinkscales had multiple notable achievements over more than forty years in practice. One of his groundbreaking accomplishments included organizing Atlanta’s first Microsurgery Training Lab. He was the first orthopedic trained microsurgeon and performed the first successful replantation in Georgia (1978). Among many other firsts and bests, he designed a “hand-stand” to assist during surgery.

He worked with precision, humility, and enthusiasm, always in pursuit of perfection. He engendered long-lasting affection and respect from patients and colleagues alike. His curriculum vitae lists academic appointments from Atlanta to Bangkok, Bogota, and Mumbai along with more than 250 national presentations in dozens of states and 13 countries on six continents. He was clearly a leader in his field and was a member, often president, of local, state, and regional professional organizations as well as the recipient of many meaningful, prestigious awards. He was equally involved in community and volunteer work.

An adventurous sort, he loved creating family vacations: shark cage diving in South Africa, bicycling in the French wine country, swimming with sharks and stingrays in Belize, viewing Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe from an ultralight plane, witnessing the migration of wildebeests in South Africa from a hot air balloon, and marveling at a sunrise over the Nile River. He piloted an acrobatic sailplane over the Arizona desert and performed exciting acrobatics in a fighter jet over the Mediterranean Sea.

Competitive and athletic, Grady enjoyed football and basketball in his youth and gravitated to tennis and snow skiing later. He was an avid scuba diver, sailor and pilot. He particularly enjoyed annual family ski trips to Colorado until he finally hung up his skis at age 82. He frequented their vacation home in Lake Lure, North Carolina, too.

Grady adored classical music and jazz. He and his wife, Peggy, had season tickets to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra for more than fifty years. He loved art and visited museums all over the world. In fact, always in search of creative things to do, after retirement Grady took up sculpting and became quite adept. He also attended memoir writing classes for several years, documenting his life as a surgeon, a risk taker, an artist and writer and a loving family man. He was our renaissance man.

Grady Clinkscales, Jr. was born in Anderson, South Carolina, on November 23, 1931, the son of Dr. Grady S. Clinkscales, Sr. and Hazel March Clinkscales. From an early age he wanted to be a doctor like his father. He graduated from the Webb Preparatory School in Bell Buckle, Tennessee. He graduated cum laude from Vanderbilt University in three years, in 1952. He graduated from Emory University School of Medicine in 1956. He spent his internship at Grady Memorial Hospital.

Dr. Clinkscales served two years of active duty in the U.S. Army Medical Corps mostly at a large Army Orthopedic Hospital in Germany. At the time of his honorable discharge, he held the rank of Major and served with distinction.The military strengthened his feelings of patriotism for the United States. He changed his specialty from neurology to orthopedics. During this time, he also began to race sports cars and visited many cities in Europe.

Then, he completed his orthopedic residency at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, where he also earned a master’s degree in Orthopedic Surgery from the University of Minnesota doing research on bone cancer. He pursued additional post-graduate study in England, followed by a fellowship in Orthopedic Hand Surgery in San Francisco.

During his residency at Mayo, he married Carlynn McLendon of Montgomery, Alabama, and they had two sons, Grady III and Carlton. Carlynn lost a long battle with breast cancer. Later, Grady married Peggy Elizabeth Carroll, of Asheville, North Carolina and they had a daughter, Courtney. The children from both marriages blended and bonded beautifully. Peggy brought to the family, and to Grady in particular, great joy and love, as well as enthusiasm, inspiration, and faith. He did the same for her.

In 1964, Dr. Clinkscales hung out his shingle as a solo practitioner, just as his father had done. His practice became the Georgia Hand & Microsurgery, now Georgia Hand, Shoulder & Elbow. Dr. Clinkscales practiced primarily at Piedmont Hospital where he served on many committees. He created, built and led the very successful Georgia Surgical Center on Peachtree. As Clinical Professor of Orthopedics, he taught residents at Emory University for his entire career.

Twelve years after his residency he took additional training to become a microvascular surgeon. He is credited with being the first orthopedic hand surgeon in Georgia to successfully replant a completely severed part of a man’s hand in the 1970s—a finger of a concert pianist and dentist who successfully returned to both professions. Many more successful replants followed, including an entire arm. He considered this skill to be among his most significant accomplishments.

Dr. Clinkscales was particularly committed to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, American Society for Surgery of the Hand, Georgia Orthopedic Society, and Georgia Society for Surgery of the Hand, of which he was the principal founding member and its first president in 1991. He was inducted into the Georgia Orthopedic Society Foundation Hall of Fame in 2022. The Dr. Grady S. Clinkscales, Jr. lectureship award at the Georgia Orthopedic Society was established in 2025 to honor his lifetime of work. He served as a Board Member of the High Museum of Art as well as many other local charitable organizations. He was a longtime member of the Cherokee Town and Country Club, and a devoted supporter of Peachtree Presbyterian Church.

Grady, the eternal optimist, approached life with unparalleled enthusiasm and compassion and respect for others. He always had an opinion and was eager to express it with candor when necessary. He had quite a sense of humor and did love a good joke. More than anything, he had tremendous love for his wife Peggy. He was also a caring father and grandfather as well as a loyal and trusted friend.

Grady is survived by Peggy, his magnificent wife of 48 years, children Grady III, Carlton, and Courtney, and grandsons C.J., Alex, Cooper and Beckett. His beloved dog Sophie will also miss him. He was predeceased by his older sister Araluen Louise Clinkscales Seabrook.

Visitation will be held at the H.M. Patterson and Son’s Funeral Home at 173 Allen Drive, NE in Sandy Springs, on Monday, May 11, 2026, from 6-8 PM. There will be a private burial at Arlington Memorial Cemetery. A memorial service will be held at Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Road, NW on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at 1 PM, followed by a reception in celebration of Grady’s life full of love, dedication and achievement.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the following:

The Georgia Orthopedic Society Foundation, for The Grady S. Clinkscales, Jr. Lectureship, Attn: Liz Neary; 1200 Highway 74S, Suite 6-232, Peachtree City, GA 30269.

Piedmont Hospital, Orthopedic Department, 1968 Peachtree Road, Atlanta, GA 30309

Peachtree Presbyterian Church, 3434 Roswell Road, NW, Atlanta, GA 30305