Born in Richmond, Virginia, Tom Conaty was 12 years old when the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. transferred his father to Huntington. The year was 1935. Huntington would be his home for the rest of his life.

At an early age, young Tom decided two things – he wanted to go to Notre Dame University and he wanted to become a doctor.

His life-long passion for Notre Dame and the school's legendary football teams was ignited when he was 15 and his father took him to South Bend for his first game. The excitement of the day never left him. For more than 40 years, he made a point of seeing the Fighting Irish play at least one game each fall.

Looking back as an adult, he credited his early interest in a medical career to the frequent visits by doctors to his family home to treat sore throats and other ailments. That, of course, was back when doctors still made house calls.

After graduating from Notre Dame and serving two years with the U.S. Navy Medical Corps, he earned his medical degree at the Medical College of Virginia in Richmond and successfully applied for an internship at St. Mary's Hospital -- a place where he would spend countless days (and nights) in the decades ahead.

Conaty decided to specialize in obstetrics and gynecology. After he completed his residence, he formed what would be a long-time partnership with Dr. Ed Humphrey, one of Huntington's most distinguished physicians.

At St. Mary's, Dr. Conaty rose to become Chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology. At one point, when other doctors had left the hospital to practice elsewhere, he held the hospital's obstetrics and gynecology department together as a one-man operation, working around the clock until new doctors could be recruited. Dr. Conaty also gave of his time every Wednesday for 40 years at the hospital's indigent clinic for OB/GYN patients.

Conaty's friends and family knew there was only one thing he loved as much as he loved Notre Dame football – and that was telling a good joke. His penchant for joke-telling was legendary around St. Mary's

Sidelined by heart surgery in 1988, Conaty reluctantly decided to retire – "after," as one friend put it, "10,000 deliveries and 20,000 jokes."

He died in 1999.

Today, St. Mary's owes Dr. Thomas Conaty a debt that can never be repaid – a debt of gratitude for the key role he played in establishing the hospital's reputation for quality, family-centered maternity care.

St. Mary's Medical Center is proud to induct him into our Wall of Fame.