“ The Jesuit school wanted to recruit individuals from Chicago , Detroit , St . Louis and Milwaukee to try and integrate the school . There were 38 of us and we integrated that school ,” he said .
His parents hoped the opportunity would open new doors for their son .
“ They saw it as an opportunity to get me out of the inner city of Milwaukee which was chaotic at the time and they felt it was safe ,” he said . “ And it paid off .”
Life was different at the prestigious boarding school whose graduates have included former Mexican President Vicenta Fox , who was two years behind Purvis , actor George Wendt , and Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen .
“ It was such a mind-blowing experience for kids from all of these inner city schools to go to this institution and it helped us all ,” he said . “ It really did .”
Purvis went on to earn his medical degree from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health , then landed in Meridian in 1989 to begin work as a public health officer for the Lauderdale County Health Department , earning a salary of roughly $ 38,000 a year . It was part of his twoyear commitment to work in public health in exchange for his medical school scholarship .
“ I had lived up north my whole life , so I decided to come here . Warm weather and I knew for a fact that I would be needed and you would have an immediate volume of people to see ,” Purvis recalled .
What Purvis discovered in Meridian surprised him .
“ I thought that people would flock , but they didn ’ t . And they didn ’ t because they were a little afraid , they had never seen a Black physician before or work with a Black physician before . It is unheard of now , but in the late 1980s , and that ’ s only 30 years ago , it was not available ,” he said .
A developing healthcare crisis around him , however , was about to change his destiny .
In 1989 , Mississippi ’ s governor closed the state ’ s three charity hospitals , including Meridian ’ s Matty Hersee Hospital , leaving lower income women and those without insurance no place to turn for healthcare .
The health department was flooded with patients , and Purvis was offering care to women from all walks of life and with all kinds of health problems , including diabetes , high blood pressure , and high cholesterol .
When a lot of these pregnant women could not find obstetricians to deliver their babies , Purvis agreed to do it , and in doing so he became the first Black OB / GYN in the region to deliver a white baby . But he was too busy providing healthcare to these women to have any apprehensions about what that could mean .
“ They were afraid , and I was afraid , yet , at the same time , we needed one another . I needed them because I am trying to train . They needed me because they had nobody to take care of them , and that relationship solidified my willingness to stay here . And it has just been good ,” he said .
During this time , he became friends with another OB / GYN , Dr . Benjamin Box , as well as state Rep . Charles Young Sr . and Republican businessman and politician Gil Carmichael . The three of them , plus numerous others in the healthcare field , successfully lobbied him to stay in Meridian after his two-year commitment was up .
“ It was an eye-opening experience ,” Purvis said . “ I never thought Mississippi would be this welcoming but everybody saw this as an opportunity for things to change .”
So in 1991 , he opened The Purvis Clinic , which operated as a private clinic until it became part of the Anderson Regional Health System in 2017 .
Photos courtesy of the Purvis Clinic
Some of the babies Dr . Ronnye Purvis delievered through the years .
20 • MERIDIAN LIFE