Dr. Arthur Gilbert Blakey

Dr. Arthur Gilbert Blakey and Jessica Cobb Blakey. Photograph donated by Dr. James Bowles

Dr. Arthur Gilbert Blakey was one of nine children born in Barboursville, Virginia to Ella and James Blakey on March 8, 1888. He was a graduate of Virginia State College and had his medical training from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee.

Dr. Blakey   practiced medicine in Goochland, Fluvanna, and adjoining Virginia counties beginning in 1918. He traveled miles back and forth to the mountains servicing patients pro bono. In some instances, patients would attempt to pay him with produce items and farm goods. He served the surrounding area for a period of 45 years.

Dr. Blakey passed away on April 24, 1963. The late Dr. James Harold Bowles, Sr. considered Dr. Blakey to have been both a role model and mentor.

Medicine bottle dated July 26, 1949, filled at Bruce’s Drug Store in Scottsville, VA, for a prescription written by Dr. Blakey. Bottle donated by Eleanore Andrews.

World War II Soldiers Remembered: James Harold Bowles

June 12, 1921–January 17, 2019

James Harold Bowles graduated from Central High School in 1940 and attended Virginia Union University from 1940 to 1942. Bowles was 20-years-old and a student at VUU when he filled out his registration card in 1942. Soon after that he began work as a civil service employee in Pennsylvania and Hawaii from 1942 to 1944. While in Hawaii, he joined the United States Army and served two years. He resumed his studies and graduated from VUU in 1948 and from Meharry Medical School in 1952. After his internship, he returned home to Goochland County and opened his medical practice.