A Hero's Welcome For A Dedicated Doctor

One of the last times Pam Lee Orr saw P.J. Farmer, she was driving him to Hernando High School football games in her dad's red Montego.

He was the little brother of her best friend Katy. She had no choice.

Orr was among dozens of friends, former classmates and total strangers who stood in line at the downtown library branch Saturday to have P.J. - now Dr. Paul Farmer - sign a book chronicling his efforts to bring health care to the poorest of the poor in Haiti.

It wasn't a surprise that Farmer is making a triumphant return to the place he spent most of his childhood, said Orr, who lives in Brooksville and works in the county's budget office.

He served as president of the Hernando High class of 1978, and "Wherever there were school activities, he was involved, and usually organizing them," Orr said after giving Farmer a hug and making way for the next in line.

"It's amazing this hometown boy had done what he's done," she said. "I'm proud to know him."

Though he now lives in Cambridge, Mass., the City Council named Farmer the Great Brooksvillian for 2008.

He grew up in Brooksville and went onto become an internist, specialzing in infectious diseases. As a co-founder of Partners in Health, Farmer has traveled to some of the poorest places in the world, trying to bring the benefits of modern medicine and social justice to patients afflicted with AIDS and other maladies.

His work in Haiti is the subject of "Mountains Beyond Mountains, the Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, a Man Who Would Cure the World," by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder. Farmer also has authored two books of his own.

Members of his class spent hours organizing the book signing and a reception that would take place later Saturday under a tent downtown. He also made it into town early enough to ride in the Christmas Parade.

For Farmer, the book signing after the parade was a procession of names and faces from his past. The second-oldest of six hasn't been back since his father Paul Sr. died in 1985.

He'd see a former classmate or teacher, get up from his chair and exclaim, "Give me some loving." Hugs and kisses would commence.

"I think about you guys a lot," Farmer said at one point. "More than you know."

Vera Cannon, 61, taught Farmer in sixth grade at Brooksville Junior High. She remembered him as "smart and outgoing," even then.

"He was a joker, but he didn't disrupt the class," Cannon said as she waited in line, clutching two copies of Kidder's book.

The man who would move mountains showed he can be pretty lighthearted.

"I've never had my picture taken with a beauty queen before," Farmer said as he posed with Allison Donato, a 10th grader at Hernando High and Miss Florida Junior Teen. "Now this is a proper homecoming."

He saw another classmate and quipped, "I had a crush on Beth for years and now she pays attention to me, 30 years too late."

Karen Jensen came from St. Petersburg to meet Farmer for the first time.

The 65-year-old spent some time in Haiti last summer doing mission work with her church, witnessing firsthand the effect that crushing poverty and limited access to medicine has had on the people there.

"I know what he means when he says 'mountains beyond mountains," Jensen said as she clutched a well-worn copy of Kidder's book. ("His work) has been life-changing for each and every person. He's left his mark on history."

After two hours of signing, Farmer admitted that being back in Brooksville, seeing the town and getting a hero's welcome got him "choked up."

"I can't think of anything more emotionally significant than to have your hometown appreciate your work," Farmer said.