Dr. Ralph Brooks Vance, Sr.

Dr. Ralph Brooks Vance, Sr., a loving man, husband, father, physician, teacher and friend, died at his home in Oxford on June 25, 2022. A service to celebrate his life will be held at noon on Monday, June 27, in Oxford at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. There, Ralph served as Junior Warden and regularly read the scriptures with a powerful voice that resonated throughout the church and that commanded the attention of all of those who worshipped there. Visitation will be held in the St. Peter’s Parish hall from 10:00 AM to noon, preceding the service.

Ralph was born on December 4, 1945, the son of Brooks Clois and Chrystine Gober Vance, both of whom predeceased him. He grew up in Jackson and was a product of Boyd Elementary School, Bailey Junior High School and Murrah High School, then one of the finest public schools in the country. Ralph served as president of the Murrah senior class and was inducted into the Murrah Hall of Fame. He is remembered by his classmates as an exceptional leader who could motivate people to do things that they not only thought they couldn’t do, but that they didn’t even want to do. Ralph, even as a young man, was endowed with extraordinary leadership skills, and those skills – along with his many other talents — would manifest themselves in the accomplishments that followed Ralph throughout his life.

After graduation from Murrah in 1964, Ralph attended his beloved Ole Miss, where he was a member of Sigma Chi Fraternity, was elected Vice President of the Student Body, and was inducted into Phi Kappa Phi, the honorary fraternity for outstanding academic achievement, He was, in addition, one of eight students inducted into the Hall of Fame – Ole Miss’ highest honor — in 1968, when he graduated.

Ralph next attended the University of Mississippi Medical School in Jackson from which he graduated in 1972 and where he completed a residency in internal medicine and then a fellowship in oncology. Joining the faculty of the med school, Ralph would go on to teach there, always with great passion, for 43 years, never losing the joy that came from watching “the light go on” in students’ eyes when they came to understand a concept that he was teaching them. He also served the med school as Chief of Staff and ended his career there as Professor Emeritus of Oncology, having produced a myriad of outstanding Mississippi oncologists.

Ralph was a fellow of the American College of Physicians and was National President of the American Cancer Society, which, along with teaching, was one of the great passions of his life. The Hope Lodge, which serves the families of Mississippi cancer patients, was another of his passions, and he was instrumental in the fundraising that made Hope Lodge possible and in its founding and subsequent operation. He also served on the Board of Directors of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Mississippi.

After his retirement, Ralph and his wife Douglas moved to Oxford, where he will be remembered for his support of, and involvement in, many different organizations. He was President of the Oxford Film Festival Board, was a member of the Board of Directors of Thacker Mountain Radio, and was President of the J. D. Williams Library Board.

But accomplishments – and there are many that are not set forth here – aside, Ralph will best be remembered for his wonderful sense of humor and concomitant ability to make people laugh. He will also be remembered as a man who was never too busy to give time to his friends, to his students and to his patients, and as a loving and caring man filled with a kind and generous spirit and possessed of a loving, giving heart. Those of us who were privileged to call him a friend, or a teacher, or a physician, will take memories of those glowing qualities possessed by this extraordinarily gifted man with us — always.

Ralph Brooks Vance is survived by his wife, Mary Douglas Allen Vance, and his son, Brooks (Rebecca) Vance and his daughter Barrett Vance, as well as his grandchildren Baron, Mae, Olivia and Samuel Vance.

Memorials honoring Ralph may be made to the Baddour Center, P. O. Box 97, Senatobia, MS 38668 or to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Capital Development Fund, 113 South Ninth Street, Oxford, MS 38655.