Our Bellevue Rotary friend and past president (1991-1992), Dr. William (Bill) T. Grimes (1942–2020) passed away one year ago last June. In remembrance of his lifelong work and community involvement this essay has been written.
Bill was an African American physician who descended from white slave owners on two sides of his family tree in North Carolina. He was the Valedictorian of the 1960 graduating class of Booker T. Washington High School. During high school he was invited to attend the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at Shaw University in April 1960, and one of the highlights of his life was to have the experience of riding in the same vehicle to the conference with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from Rocky Mount NC to Raleigh NC, a distance of 60miles. The purpose of the conference was to train future civil rights leaders. After high school, Dr. Grimes attended Clark College, now Clark-Atlanta University in Atlanta GA, and then West Virginia University as a graduate student in Zoology. He next attended The Bowman Gray School of Medicine, now Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem NC.
It was at freshman orientation at The Bowman Gray School of Medicine when Dr. Grimes learned that he was the first African American to enter the medical school. The Chairman of the Pathology Department let upperclassmen know that he would retire before teaching a Black student. A class picnic was held at Tanglewood Park, which was segregated. Special permission was obtained so that Dr. Grimes could go to the picnic. Since no other Black person could enjoy the park, he politely declined to attend. Dr. Grimes’s contribution to medical school equality was through being elected President of the Student Government and the Student Chapters of the American and National Medical Associations.
After graduation in 1977, Dr. Grimes moved to the West Coast, working at Madigan Army Medical Center, Ft. Lewis, Tacoma WA, for Internship and Medical Residency. Afterward, he had his own medical practice in Bellevue WA for many years.
Dr. Grimes’s wife of 43 years is Elizabeth Anne Grimes, a now-retired nurse. In September 1997 Bill, Anne and fellow Bellevue Rotarian Ken Graham helped plan and implement the Bellevue/Crossroads Rotacare Free Clinic which operated each Saturday providing free medical care and medical/surgical referrals to Washington State residents who would otherwise not be able to afford it. Bill served as Medical Director and Anne as Clinical Coordinator for 23 years!
Bill was also a longtime supporter of the Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation. Based in Montgomery, Alabama, it is known for its legal cases against white supremacist groups, its classification of hate groups and other extremist organizations, and for promoting tolerance education programs.
After Dr. Bill’s passing of Acute Myeloid Leukemia in June 2020, his widow Anne established the William T. Grimes, Jr., MD Scholarship Fund at Wake Forest School of Medicine located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The purpose of the fund is to provide scholarships to students in the MD degree program at Wake Forest who will help achieve and sustain the diversity of the student body and who have demonstrated financial need. It is requested that preference be given to African American and Hispanic students to the extent permitted by law.
Bill is greatly missed by many and will forever be in our thoughts….
-Rob Rose. Many thanks to Jan Wiesen for providing extensive details for this remembrance.
