Robert J. Carabasi, MD
Robert J. Carabasi, MD, of Temple, Texas, passed away peacefully on December 15, 2023. He was 98 years old.
Robert (Bob) was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on June 23, 1925. His family ran a business selling meat and other supplies to restaurants in the Philadelphia area. He attended LaSalle Preparatory and College, and Jefferson Medical College.
After graduating from medical school, and during his residency, Bob became interested in joining a group practice, which was relatively rare at that time. A friend told him about such a practice in Temple, Texas. In 1950 Bob applied for a job at Scott, Brindley and Sherwood (now Scott & White), was accepted and moved to Texas. At the time he joined the practice, Scott & White had about 50 senior staff physicians and 40 to 50 residents. It was unairconditioned back then, and patients were received in the lobby and served on a first-come, first-served basis.
While working at Scott & White, Bob met the love of his life, Lajuana Danforth, who was a medical secretary at Scott and White. They were married on November 22, 1952, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Temple.
In 1954, Bob was drafted by the U.S. Army in a sweeping call-up known as the “doctor draft†and was assigned to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where Lajuana continued working as a medical secretary. In 1956, the young couple moved to McKinney, Texas, where Bob was on the chest and pulmonary lab services at the V.A. Hospital. Lajuana continued working as a medical secretary and part-time elementary teacher and singing in the Presbyterian church choir. Housing was so scarce that they lived in a converted WAC barracks, persisting despite challenging conditions including the stench of a nearby abattoir.
In 1958 Bob and Lajuana returned to Temple, TX, where Bob joined the medical staff at Scott & White, becoming its first director of pulmonology and respiratory therapy. Bob remained at Scott & White until his retirement in 1988. Bob was a leader in his field. During his career, Bob published many studies in pulmonary medicine and was frequently cited by others in studies.
Bob and Lajuana were deeply involved in their respective churches and in their community. They helped found the Cultural Activities Center, and volunteered there for years. They also established a scholarship for students in financial need, in honor of Bob’s parents, who stressed the importance of education.
In the early 1970s, Lajuana’s church, the Presbyterian Church, helped Lajuana and Bob meet and assist Christina Nkweti, a Mary Hardin Baylor student originally from Cameroon. With their help, she went on to the University of Texas for graduate study and became a social worker in Brooklyn, New York. Over the decades, the Carabasis enjoyed staying in touch with their foster daughters and seeing them raise families of their own.
Bob and Lajuana loved going to Sanibel Island, Florida, the opera and the arts. They traveled the world together visiting many of the world’s greatest art museums. They particularly liked traveling to Italy, Bob’s ancestral homeland. Their home was filled with art, books on art, and albums of classical music and opera. Together, they were life-long learners, constantly attending lectures on various subjects and reading voraciously. Bob and Lajuana could converse on pretty much any topic with ease and fluency.
Bob and Lajuana loved to socialize and entertain, and enjoyed nightly floor shows on their back deck by the generations of raccoons. They also loved their cats, Agent Orange and, later, Princess.
Both Bob and Lajuana had amazing memory and recall, well into their 90s. Each of them could tell you stories, in detail, of events that happened 50 years or more ago.
Robert was predeceased by his loving wife, Lajuana, on November 17, 2022, and his brother, Ralph A. Carabasi, MD, on June 6, 2008. He is survived by cousins Barton C. Allen, DDS of Prosper, Texas; Trisa Thompson and Tryna Thompson, both of Austin, Texas; Molly Virginia Allen, M.D. of Wilmington, North Carolina; and his foster daughters Judy Plumlee of Stephenville, Texas, and Christina Nkweti of Washington, D.C. He is also survived by his seven nieces and nephews: R. Anthony Carabasi, M.D. and wife, Jane Marko, Ed.D; Helen T. Whittaker; Matthew H. Carabasi, M.D. and wife Kathleen Squires, M.D.; Thomas D. Carabasi; William R. Carabasi and wife Alison; Paul M. Carabasi and wife, Lisa; and Joy Belew and husband, Wendell, Esq.
Bob was a kind and gentle soul, loved by all who met him. He is dearly missed.
Thanks to all of the Temple Visiting Angels for their kindness and support.
A mass of Christian burial for Robert will be held Thursday, January 18, 2024 at 10:00 AM at St. Luke Catholic Church, 2807 Oakdale Drive, Temple, TX 76502. Following the mass of Christian burial will be a burial at Bellwood Memorial Park, 8575 Airport Rd, Temple, Texas 76502.
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