Gleaves T. James, who was for ten years the First Lady of UTMB,
died on February 1, 2019, at her home in Birmingham, Alabama. She was 90.
Gleaves Elizabeth Tynes was born in New Orleans on July 6, 1928, the only child of Cara Odom and Fenner Tynes. She grew up in and around New Orleans, where she attended Eleanor McMain High School and Newcomb College. It was while at Newcomb that she met a Tulane University medical student named Thomas N. James; the two were married on June 22, 1948, raised three sons, and remained a loving couple until Tom’s death in 2010.
Gleaves and the children followed Tom’s active medical career that included service at the US Army Hospital in Osaka, Japan; cardiology practice at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans and the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit; chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham; and finally the campus presidency at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) in Galveston, from 1987 to 1997. In Galveston, in addition to managing Tom’s busy social schedule, Gleaves was well-known for directing the restoration of historic buildings including the Runge House, the Rosenberg House, and Open Gates. The Gleaves T. James Rose Garden on the UTMB campus was created in her honor.
After Tom’s retirement from the UTMB presidency, the couple remained in Galveston until 2004, when they returned to Birmingham to be closer to family. Family was always her first priority, but she also would always find time in her active life to teach Sunday school or volunteer at the local zoo.
Gleaves is survived by her three sons, Mark (Marine Le Minor) of Auckland, New Zealand; Terry (Loryn) of Birmingham; and Peter of Sterrett, Alabama; five grandchildren, Matthew (Amy), Sara (Mike Cunliffe), Talia, Elizabeth, and Alexis; and one great-grandson, Ethan.
Her funeral service will be held on Sunday, February 10, at the Southern Heritage Funeral Home in Pelham, Alabama. Interment will take place next to her husband in the Alabama National Cemetery in Montevallo, Alabama.