Month: February 2017

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Memory submitted by Kathe Hall

When did you meet Mickey?
2004

Where did you meet him?
Art Center

Memory of Mickey
His wisdom, his genuine caring spirit was always felt regardless of a professional opinion or a personal one. Mickey made me laugh especially when he was with Andy and Al – The Three Amigo’s. Mostly I always knew he had a deep love for Sharon. Often seeing him and Al and Andy in the Hummer as they drove across Main Street. I could picture a movie with those three. You know there are so many times that my path crossed with Mickey’s, and every time was always a pleasant one. He will always be remembered. His richness touched my life!

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Memory submitted by Paul Pierce, MD

When did you meet Mickey?
2016

Where did you meet him?
only through his website

Memory of Mickey
I knew Mickey only through his writings on 1boringoldman. I don’t even recall how I stumbled onto the site, but it has been a regular go-to for me over the past two years, and Mickey’s writings have been profoundly influential about how I think about my profession and how I fit into the world as a psychiatrist.

I rarely contributed to comments, in fact only once. I don’t consider myself a dumb guy, but always had the same sort of anxiety about contributing to the conversation that a kid has approaching the grown up table. I occasionally thought about putting in a comment just to express how grateful I was for his work and sharing his insights so freely. I never did, so I must resign myself to writing here.

It saddens me that his leg of the race is done, but clearly he was a major player in pushing back against some real rot in our profession, and I will remain grateful for that.

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Memory submitted by Mary Kay Flick

When did you meet Mickey?
2012

Where did you meet him?
He’s Abby’s dad

Memory of Mickey
Mostly he’s my dear friend Abby’s daddy. Without him, Abby wouldn’t be who she is. And I really like how she is. Aside from that, we bonded over coloring. I love to color and do it pretty much every day. On various holidays, I liked to bring a stash (albeit only a small part of my overall stash) to Abby’s to sit on the porch and color with Mickey, and whoever else was around, enjoy a coffee and conversation. He was much more vibrant with his use of color than I am – he liked the neons. Regardless, I love that this man of science validated that coloring was a good thing. I intend to do more coloring on Abby’s porch, and when we do, we’re going to raise our coffee cups and think of Mickey.

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Memory submitted by Beau

When did you meet Mickey?
1975

Where did you meet him?
Morningside Egg Hunts

Memory of Mickey
I got to grow up around Mickey; in the seventies, he was one of the oddball grownups at the Lipscombs parties. In the eighties, he was one of the oddball grownups at the Flint Hill egg hunts, where I also grew up, and raised my own kids. I got to watch Mickey become one of the brilliant sages of the Pig Roasts, the Egg Hunts, and whatever else went on that drew together the tribes of Morningside, Ansley Park and Flint Hill.

Favorite memories vary from the weekend that he trashed his brand new jeep, down at Andy’s farm, giving everybody rides through the woods until he broke an axel or two, on up to the various times he helped show me how to slow down and just be there with my kids.

Oh, and he also, through one of his first websites, taught me about the zen of javascript, which was a good thing since I’d taken a job doing lots of that.

He was one of those, like Andy and Al, who were supposed to always be there; they were just fixtures in my life that I regret now too often taking for granted.

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Memory submitted by Barbara Larsen

When did you meet Mickey?
1989

Where did you meet him?
I met Mickey through Sharon. She was a new and dear friend from the start. Getting to know Mickey over the years was an added bonus.

Memory of Mickey
Over the years of my friendship with Sharon, I found Mickey to always be a welcoming and loving presence. I enjoyed his kindness and his mind in every encounter.

I was also fortunate to benefit by his teaching continuing education courses in my work as an addiction counselor. In this, he challenged and stimulated.

Always enjoying visiting Jasper to join Sharon in her lapidary adventures, dining at the Nardo Family table was always a body full-filling, mind stimulating, spirit inspiring, and heart warming experience.

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Memory submitted by David Cooper

When did you meet Mickey?
1956

Where did you meet him?
McCallie School

Memory of Mickey
It's sad to "lose" a friend from my youth, but I'm a better person for having known him. We probably didn't agree about things much in later years, but we remained friendly. His perspective on things made me stop and think… that was very valuable to me.

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Memory submitted by Karen Galvin

When did you meet Mickey?
2014

Where did you meet him?
I met Mickey through Abby.

Memory of Mickey
I had heard so many stories about Mickey. When he and Sharon came over one Thanksgiving morning for brunch, it was as though they had visited our house a hundred times before. Mickey was thoroughly engaging with everyone in the house – one year he charmingly engaged Nora with coloring, a different year he had a wonderful conversation with my mom about the psychological burdens of deeply religious people. Our thanksgiving brunch with the Nardo family had become a special tradition, and I was so sad this past year when both my family and Mickey were too unwell to have our little celebration.

We will set a place for him this November.

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Memory submitted by Nancy Wilson

When did you meet Mickey?
2011

Where did you meet him?
His blog

Memory of Mickey
In 2005 I was encouraged to resign from my research study coordinator position at UT Southwestern after I reported principal investigator Madhukar Trivedi for ethical misconduct. I was despondent and reached out to Bob Rubin, who introduced me to Barney Carroll. Bob Rubin and Barney Carroll were my lifelines through some difficult times. In 2011 Barney Carroll introduced me to Mickey Nardo. Mickey investigated my complaint and published his findings on his blog. His analysis of what I experienced in the world of academic clinical research helped me to recover and move on to a career in regulatory services.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mickey and his wife Sharon in Austin during the “TMAP trial” which involved Madhukar Trivedi and his mentor John Rush. Even though the drug company settled before Trivedi and Rush appeared in court, the trial brought attention to the questionable activities of academic researchers at UT Southwestern.

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Memory submitted by Janet Smith

When did you meet Mickey?
2009

Where did you meet him?
I met Mickey in an art group here in Jasper

Memory of Mickey
I just enjoyed being around him! He had an easiness to him that made you relax and comfortable to be yourself around him!

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Memory submitted by WendySue Rosloff

When did you meet Mickey?
2006

Where did you meet him?
China Trip

Memory of Mickey
I was on the Great Wall of China. I saw a woman crumple down on the ground and ran over to see what was the matter. I thought maybe she was dehydrated so I gave her some water put cold cloth by her neck and fanned her with my fan. She revived. It turns out we were all on the same China trip group. That was how I met Sharon. Later on I saw her and she was with this guy and I walked over and the guy said “thanks for saving my wife.” That was Mickey.

Sharon and Mickey became our best friends on the trip. There were signs in the airport that said “no smorking”. My travel partner and Mickey would always get away to “smork”.

Having this lovely couple as friends on this trip and being like minds with us was great. So glad I got to hang out with this wonderful couple.