By Liesha Wessinger-Hufstetler
It is an honor to write about my childhood doctor, Dr. Carroll Pinner III. I have memories of sitting in the waiting room, getting a tetanus shot for kindergarten, having my temperature checked and reading the eye chart at end of hallway. I remember the smell of the pharmacy next door. When I arrived at the clinic to interview him, I smiled as I remembered every part of the office. Why did he decide to follow in the footsteps of his dad and grandad? At ten years old, he wanted to be a farmer. A hot dusty day in a field, on a combine, bailing oats in 50-pound bags made him rethink his future plans. Thank you for changing your mind, Dr. Carroll!
He talked about discipline being a bit different when he grew up. Schools spanked kids for disciplinary issues in those days. If you are shocked at this, I remember my classmates getting spanked at Chapin Elementary School in the 1980s. He told me that he got 3 spankings in school. The first one was in 1st grade. He and Kevin Wicker had got into a fight, and he thought the teacher, Mrs. Huggins, would not go into the boy’s bathroom, where he was hiding. Well, the boy’s bathroom didn’t scare her, and she found him! The second one was in 6th grade when he put a tack in Sammy Rawls seat. Mrs. Suber said she wanted to cry more than he did when he was spanked. The 3rd and last one was for cutting class in his junior year to help with the Senior-Junior dance. When they caught him, he had to play “cut the book” to determine how many licks to take. They had a book, and you had to open the book to a page and that page determined the number of “licks” with the paddle. He smiled when he said that this was said it was a common practice in those days.
He graduated from Mid Carolina and played football. His one regret was at a game in his senior year. Chapin and Mid Carolina were fierce rivals, and that year, he dropped a pass that would have helped them beat Chapin. Dr. Carroll said, “it was terrible for the football team.” Being a doctor can bring some interesting stories into your life. One day in 1984 when he had just seeded the lawn with Zosia, a car drove across his lawn, a frantic man rolled down the window and said “You gotta do something doc, she is going to not marry that fella!” Ya’ know, there are just some things a doctor can’t fix! Thank you, Dr. Carroll, for being there for us in the community in the hard times, sick times and the silly times!
