Biography:

Harry Austin Grimes, M.D., of Little Rock, died peacefully at age 94 on October 6, 2023, his beloved wife Ann beside him. He was born October 25, 1928, in Memphis, Tennessee to Aarol and Martha Ann Grimes and was raised in Newport, Arkansas.

Austin is survived by his wife Ann Grimes, daughter Meredith McLeod, stepson Adam Wells, close-to-heart niece Bridget Rogers and nephew Seth Schulte, and cousins in Arkansas and California. He was predeceased by his parents, daughter Mardi DeBerry, stepson Patrick Wells, and step-daughter-in-law Jana Wells.

Austin was an exceptional doctor, pilot, snow skier, artist, golfer, and storyteller extraordinaire. Above all, he was a kind and wise man who gave freely of himself and enriched the lives of others.

His parents, Aarol and “Annie,” opened Grimes Drug Store in Newport during the Great Depression.  Austin dipped Yarnell’s ice cream and made milkshakes behind the soda fountain. He became an Eagle Scout and achieved the Order of the Arrow. The old men in town taught him the game of golf during World War II, a sport he enjoyed for almost eight decades. He shot his fifth and sixth holes-in-one at age 82. He received flight training at Newport Auxiliary Airfield and was licensed as a private pilot at age 16. He had ambitions of becoming a fighter pilot in World War II, but the war was over before he graduated in 1946 from Newport High School­where he was president of the senior class. As a pilot, he eventually earned instrument, multi-engine, and commercial ratings.

Austin joined Kappa Sigma fraternity at the University of Arkansas and graduated in 1950. He graduated from the University of Arkansas Medical School in 1955 and interned at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Florida before joining the United States Air Force as captain and graduating from Flight Surgeon School at Randolph AFB. He was assigned to the 19^th Bomb Wing at Homestead AFB and then was sent to interesting temporary duty at Ben Guerir Air Base, Morocco. He returned to Jackson Memorial for three years as a resident in general and orthopedic surgery but was recalled for the Bay of Pigs affair and subsequently assigned to Barksdale AFB in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Dr. Grimes returned to Little Rock, where he practiced solo for five years before joining two others to form Little Rock Orthopedic Clinic. While serving as president of Little Rock Academy of Surgery, Dr. Grimes invited a classmate from flight surgeon school to visit Little Rock. Dr. Malcom Perry told the group of his experiences at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas regarding JFK, Lee Harvey Oswald, and Jack Ruby. Dr. Grimes volunteered as a subject in the Physicians’ Health Studies I and II, beginning in 1982 and 1997 respectively­clinical trials that tested the benefits and risks of aspirin, beta carotene, vitamins E and C, and a multivitamin.

He later volunteered in the Cocoa Supplement and Multivitamin Outcomes Study (COSMOS), where results are still being studied. 
Austin married Ann in 1986, loving her two sons as his own and supporting all her interests. He cooked dinners and studied his way through the 54-volume Great Books course while she attended night law school. They traveled the country and the world, experiencing nature and other cultures. They camped in national and state parks, first staying tents and eventually a VW pop-up and self-contained Roadtreks. 

Influenced by Viktor Frankel’s book The Doctor and the Soul, Dr. Grimes practiced medicine as both an art and a science.  He retired from surgery at age 65, saw patients five more years, and volunteered in St. Vincent’s free clinics until retiring from medicine at age 70.

Always talented at drawing anatomy, Austin took his first-ever art lessons at the Arkansas Art Center when he retired from surgery. He then studied under oil painter Barry Thomas, who encouraged him to paint what he saw despite being colorblind. Austin formed a plein-air painting group, displayed his art in local galleries, served as an Art Center docent, participated in art shows in Newport and Little Rock, and taught classes at LifeQuest and Christ Episcopal Church. His art was chosen for Care Links’ first local holiday card and for calendars of the Arkansas Governors Mansion Association and CARTI, where he eventually underwent twelve years of cancer care. He also served on the vestry of St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church and as a reader at St. Margaret’s and Christ Episcopal Church.

This fine man loved people, his church, and his community. Please honor him by re-telling his stories, sharing his art, and showing kindness to everyone you encounter. Contributions are encouraged to Christ Episcopal Church or St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, or to any efforts that will make your own community a better place to live.

A funeral service will be held Thursday, October 12, 2023, at 11 a.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, Little Rock, Arkansas, with a reception to follow. He will be interred at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church columbarium earlier that day at 9:30 a.m.