James P. Cloud, M.D., 83, of Orange, passed away Saturday, October 31, 2009, in Orange.
Funeral service will be 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 4, 2009, at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange.
Burial will follow at Orange Forest Lawn Cemetery.
Visitation will be from 6:00-8:00 p.m., Tuesday at Claybar Funeral Home in Orange.
James Presley Cloud MD. was born in Orleans, Indiana on March 2, 1926. He attended local school and graduated from Orleans High School after only three years in the spring of 1944; however he had enlisted in the Navy at the time in 1943, and therefore was graduated in absentia. James was a member of the Orleans Christian Church and the Orleans Lodge 153, F. and A. M. On December 29, 1949 he was married to Patricia Charlene Ashley in Indianapolis. He attended Notre Dame University for his undergraduate studies, Indiana University for medical school and served as a medical officercaptain as a flight surgeon in the U.S. Air Force. This is particularly humorous considering that he would get terribly motion sick in aircraft, thus earning the nickname "The Horizonal Flight Surgeon". He told a story of how a semester of German language credit kept him from being sent to the Korean War before he entered Medical school. When released from the service in July 1953, he and Patricia moved to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to complete a residency in orthopedics at the McBride Bone and Joint Clinic. After completion of the residency the family, which by then had three children: Elizabeth Luanne, James Scott and Jean Ellen, moved to Orange, Texas where he set up his practice of orthopedics. Jill Leigh Cloud was born in Orange in 1959. There he and the family resided and the children grew up. He retired from medicine in March 1997. His interests included snow skiing and firearms and he was a weight lifter for his entire life, starting at the age of 16. He was 6 ft. tall, 172 lbs. and an honest, good man. He was a great admirer of Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States, and voted the Republican ticket. He and Patricia owned a beach house which they had built in 1981 at 2420 Sandrift in the Driftwood addition down on the Bolivar Peninsula, near Galveston. Many happy hours and years were spent at the beach with the family and grandchildren. The beach house was sold in 2003. In 2001 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and began treatment. James struggled with Parkinson symptoms for many years His daughter Jean took him to Phoenix to a neurological specialist in February 2007 and with medication and exercise, James did pretty well keeping the progression of Parkinson's at bay with the help of full time nursing staff in the home. In May of 2007, the children took Dad to Washington D.C. so that he could see the WWII Memorial and tour the historical sites. He thoroughly enjoyed it. James lost his fight with his disease on October 31, 2009 in Orange, Texas. He will be interred Forest Lawn Cemetery in Orange, Texas.
He is preceded in death by him parents; and grandson, Brandon Williams.
He is survived by his wife, Patricia C. Cloud of Orange; daughters and sons-in-law, Luanne and Timothy Jones of Joshua, Jean and Doug Mathews of Phoenix, Arizona, and Jill Smith of Orange; son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Lisa Cloud of Orange; seven grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; and sister, Dora May Myers of Paoli, Indiana.
Memorial contributions may be made to Southwestern Adventist University, Brandon Michael Williams Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 567, Keene, Texas 76059-0567.