Dr. Grady Clinkscales, noted hand surgeon, dies at 94

Dr. Grady Sebastian Clinkscales Jr.’s name comes up in conjunction with the term “Renaissance man” quite often among friends and family.

Clinkscales, who died April 27 at age 94 of various compounded health issues, helped put Atlanta on the map for hand surgeries, but he enjoyed a full life outside work, too.

Clinkscales was born in Anderson, South Carolina, on Nov. 23, 1931, the son of Dr. Grady S. Clinkscales Sr. and Hazel March Clinkscales.

He attended Vanderbilt University and then earned his medical degree from Emory University School of Medicine. He followed these with two years in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, an orthopedic residency at the Mayo Clinic, a master’s degree in orthopedic surgery from the University of Minnesota, and a fellowship in San Francisco.

In 1964, he began practicing solo using $10,000 he borrowed from a bank on a “gentleman’s handshake,” his wife, Peggy Clinkscales, said.

And he proceeded to treat the local population without prejudice or preamble.

He was responsible for starting Atlanta’s first microsurgery training lab and performed the first successful replantation in Georgia in 1978.

His wife, aware early in their 48-year marriage of her husband’s “workaholic” tendencies, accepted that patients were a priority.

“I lifted him up and said, ‘God gave you these talents. You help people. That is what you’re doing,’” she said.

She said he was a man dedicated to healing even those without many means.

“He would crawl out of bed at 2 a.m. after three or four doctors had already been called about a patient needing emergency surgery, but they did not have any insurance,” she recalled. “He would say, ‘If this were one of our kids, I would want somebody to help them.’”

The couple met in Augusta; they were both working at Doctors Hospital — Peggy as director of medical records. They married and added a daughter, Courtney, to their blended family, which included two sons, Grady Clinkscales III and Carlton Clinkscales, from Grady’s first marriage, to Carlynn McLendon Clinkscales, who died of breast cancer.

Peggy described a man dedicated to work and family, although she functioned as a sort of anchor for their children as he performed surgeries.

The medical community, although Clinkscales had been retired for some time, recalls him vividly and fondly.

Clinkscales’ original practice, Georgia Hand & Microsurgery, became Georgia Hand, Shoulder & Elbow, and he practiced there alongside Dr. John Gray Seiler III beginning in 1996. The practice came to include several other partners and handled a lot of the region’s microsurgeries.

“He started a trend toward sub-specialization in orthopedics that was unique in the city,” Seiler said. “He was able to develop a very heavy skill set in the treatment of very complicated problems.”

Patients came from surrounding states to Atlanta for the microsurgeries the practice came to provide — often with the support of Piedmont Hospital.

Seiler said Clinkscales inspired other physicians to pick up the work. Among the numerous professional associations to which he contributed was the Georgia Society for Surgery of the Hand, of which he was the founding member.

“He inspired a lot of people to do complex problems and take on difficult issues in hand surgery,” Seiler said.

One of those people is Clinkscales’ son, Carlton, who is now a hand surgeon in Colorado. Courtney also entered the medical field.

Outside work, Clinkscales enjoyed an array of activities: classical music, sculpting, skiing, scuba diving, sailing and flying.

Peggy Clinkscales remembers his zeal for life in these areas and in the surgical work he did “full steam ahead” until the age of 75. But mostly, she remembers the person he was with her.

“He was so humble, he was so private,” she said. “He was so ‘do unto others as you would like people to do to you.”

In addition to his wife, he is survived by children Grady Clinkscales III, Carlton (Claudia) Clinkscales and Courtney Clinkscales; and four grandchildren.

Memorial gifts may be made to the following: