Category: Atlanta

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Memory submitted by Victor Hoye

When did you meet Mickey?
1975

Where did you meet him?
In Morningside

Link

Memory of Mickey
Dear Sharon and Abby, I have tried several times to write an entry that reflects my best memories of Mickey and each time I have tried, I have been totally incapable of coming up with something that is worthy of reflecting what Mickey was like and what he has meant to me over the last 40+ years. There are many stories that make up 40 years of friendship and if I could capture and share every one of them perfectly, a reader still would not nearly know what Mickey has meant to me over the years. I guess it is the old Gestalt proposition that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The real message here is that I feel totally incapable of making a worthy entry here, one that does not understate what your husband / father has meant to me over the years. I have known a lot of people in my life and I have liked and admired only a few as much as Mickey. He was one of a kind for sure and I mean that in the most positive way. I already miss him dearly.

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Emory Psychiatric Community Obituary

John “Mickey” Nardo, MD, an adjunct faculty member in our department for forty years, died on February 19. Born December 3, 1941 in Chattanooga, TN, he was the rare physician who excelled in patient care, medical education, and research. Trained first in medical school and internal medicine at the University of Tennessee, and following fellowship at NIH in Immunology & Rheumatology, he served in the military in the late sixties-early seventies. There he became fascinated with the life of the mind, and came to Emory to do his psychiatry residency. This was followed by psychoanalytic training, for which he commuted to the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training & Research in NYC, then the sponsoring Institute for the Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute (EUPI). After finishing his psychiatry residency, he assumed the position of Medical Director for the Psychiatric Emergency Room at Grady (1977-1979), then Director of Residency Training for the Emory University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry (1978-1984), and subsequently as Director of Medical Student Education for the department (1984-1986). Following completion of his psychoanalytic training in 1984, he became an indispensable teacher, supervisor, and pillar of the Emory psychiatric and psychoanalytic communities. His teaching accomplishments were recognized by three departmental awards: Best Basic Science Professor (1984-1986), Chairman’s Teaching Award (1986), and Best Supervisor (1991-1992). He was also a much sought after clinician in private practice. He was known to be able to translate complicated clinical concepts into language understandable to students and patients alike. He retired in 2003 from formal teaching and private practice, but remained active as a clinical supervisor, psychiatric scholar, and psychiatrist volunteer. For example, he volunteered as a psychiatrist at two local clinics in Jasper, GA, and became Board Vice Chair at the Willow Creek Substance Abuse Treatment Program in Ellijay, GA. He became interested in researching the overuse of polypharmacy, co-authoring in 2015 an article in the British Medical Journal (BMJ): “Restoring Study 329: efficacy and harms of paroxetine and imipramine in treatment of major depression in adolescence.” This article remains in the top 5% of all of the research articles scored by Altmetrics, even over a year after it was published (scoring 1352). He also was a co-author on a follow-up paper, published in 2016, that again raised concerns about the safety and efficacy of these medications with this population during the continuation phase of treatment (Noury et al., 2016). He was a prolific blogger about psychoanalytic and mental health issues (http://1boringoldman.com), contributing his wisdom and scholarly work to the community at large. In January 2017, Emory School of Medicine promoted him to the rank of Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences in recognition of his devoted service and major contributions.

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Memory submitted by Athena Nawar

When did you meet Mickey?
1981

Where did you meet him?
Emory

Memory of Mickey
I first was introduced to Mickey as Dr. Nardo when he swept into the classroom of our medical school’s introduction to psychiatry class. Our class had been a mocking, troublesome one and the original instructor had suddenly quit. We sat sullenly and suspiciously. Mickey began to speak in his natural, evocative style and won over a classroom of defensive, hurt students.
Many of us chose to become psychiatrists that day and others gained a better respect for the discipline.

Many years later I was privileged to have Mickey as a teacher in the analytic school and even more blessed to work with him for a couple of years in the same private practice setting. I was able to spend some time just chatting with him on lunch and coffee breaks, gaining tidbits of knowledge and wisdom and sharing some common experiences from work and life. His ability to truly listen was a gift I hold dear.

He will remain a part of my heart and hopefully, of my work.

My warmest thoughts to Sharon, Abby, Caitlin and Christian,
Athena

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Memory submitted by Ken Cook

When did you meet Mickey?
1988

Where did you meet him?
We met to talk about computers and his program “PsyC”

Memory of Mickey
Mickey gave me many gifts over the years: great companionship, his knack for listening, his endless curiosity, compassion for my nuttiness, patience with my cluelesness, and many other things. We shared interest in computers, ham radio, sailing, fishing, to name a few. His biggest and life-changing gift was my ADHD diagnosis which has since brought new understanding to my life. Do I wish he would have quit smoking? Hell yes, but he made his choices and willingly dealt with the results. I once told him that he had the most interesting and unique group of people around him, and I’m so honored and humbled that I got to be one of this group. Mickey, I hope you have a heavenly smile on your face……… Ken

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Memory submitted by Kathy Shands

When did you meet Mickey?
1982

Where did you meet him?
At Emory Psychiatry

Memory of Mickey
I met Mickey around 1982, when I was a resident in Psychiatry at Emory. I had less contact with him than some of the other residents, because I was training in Child Psychiatry, so my memories of Mickey in the years from 1982-1986 are a little hazy, but he was always the guru in the background.

In 1986, as I was trying to figure out where my career should go, Gail approached me to ask if I would like to go into practice with her and Mickey and Andy Hurayt. I could not believe I was being given such an incredible opportunity, and I jumped at the chance. We built an office building at Lenox Pointe, with invaluable architectural help from Sharon, and moved in during October of that year. For 18 years, until Mickey retired in 2004, Gail, Mickey, and I (Andy soon headed off to the coast) were partners in a very successful private practice. The fact that it was very successful can be attributed in large part to Mickey, who had trained, it seemed, about half of the mental health practitioners in Atlanta. Thanks to him, we had an amazing referral base.

More than specific memories (although there are a few of those as well), I have a general sense of Mickey as the “eminence grise” of our practice. He was always there, usually in his office, seeing patients, but reliably emerging at lunchtime to sit in our group room to chat, tell stories, do crossword puzzles (in ink), play computer games, rescue our computers from various offspring (who couldn’t keep their hands off them) and to provide invaluable informal supervision. His advice was always helpful, and he was gratifyingly appreciative of my occasional supervision of him in return. Occasionally, he would be found lying on the floor of the group room because of severe back pain but would always manage to get up and go back to work.

In the early years, before he gave up alcohol, we would have TGIF parties weekly at the office. One specific memory is on one of those TGIF nights my husband, Joe, was planning to join us but called to say he had slipped on our outdoor stairs and had a deep gash in his knee. Mickey, who had not forgotten his earlier life as a “real” doctor, mobilized all of us to move the party to our house, where Mickey supervised Gail’s husband as he sutured Joe’s knee at the kitchen table.

Another specific memory is around Mickey’s retirement. His much-loved dog had died shortly before that, and Gail and I decided to give him a dog as a retirement gift. We found one we really liked at the ASPCA and asked Sharon to approve it. Sharon thought our choice was too active and immediately picked Annie, who was calm, affectionate, and the right size for her to walk. I’ll never forget how surprised and happy Mickey was when we arrived in Jasper with Annie.

The last time I saw Mickey – before he went in to the hospital -was at Gail’s house shortly after Christmas. He looked ill, and in fact was, but he didn’t let that stop him from sitting at the table, entertaining a group of us with stories about his life, including many memories of his time in England.

I loved Mickey and always will, and I can’t believe he is not just up the road in Jasper, being wise and funny and impressively productive in his retirement. I will sorely miss him.

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Memory submitted by Jane Lipscomb

When did you meet Mickey?
1975

Where did you meet him?
Morningside

Memory of Mickey
I had a difficult time narrowing my memories of Mickey down to one incident. In the 40 years I knew him there is a long stream of memories. When we met around 1975, we were having egg hunts at our house in Morningside. When we moved to Talbot County, those egg hunts became Egg Roasts at The Farm. Over the years we had over 40 people coming for the weekend before Easter to enjoy BBQ by Andy, Mickey and Al and egg hunts with over 300 eggs. Children grew up coming and then bringing their college friends and later their families.

I think of Mickey as a ‘quiet presence’. He was usually not loud or boastful, but just there. In a large group, he would often be off on the side listening or talking to someone of playing with a child.

One of the Egg Roast weekends was different. He had a new jeep from Jasper Jeep and wanted to show it off. He loudly invited folks to a ride down the dirt road. This led to several trips with a jeep load of kids and brave adults racing down the bumpy road. He broke his axle and folks, along with Sharon, always reminded him of that crazy night.

We had a prizes and trophies for the weekend. They included the BBQ and Bourbon Society and Pig’n’Puke award. That weekend we added another called 6 Flags Over Mickey. This memory was not of the ‘quiet presence’, but of the instigator of ‘fun things to do’.

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Memory submitted by Jane Lipscomb

When did you meet Mickey?
1975

Where did you meet him?
Morningside and Jasper

Memory of Mickey
I think of Mickey as being a ‘quiet presence’. He was not loud or boastful, but just there. In a large group, he would be off on the side listening or talking to someone or playing with a child. Unless you were the one in the corner with him, you may not have noticed him. He did make his opinions known with letters to the editor in the AJC and Pickens Progress.

Andy met Mickey around 1975 while working on the roof of our friends house in Morningside. This was a problem with his acrophobia and he wasn’t seen up high very often.

Morningside years were filled with many different memories:

  • Planning and shopping for all night pig roasts in the park with Andy and Bob
  • Cooking and preparing the food which involved picking pig eyeballs out of the stew (already shared by Mary Ann Gaunt)
  • All night in the park with stories, drinking and breakfast of Moon over Miami
  • Helping us insulate and sheetrock our upstairs room
  • Andy working on their homes on University and Rock Springs
  • Our baby sitting coop with Mickey, the favorite sitter for the kids, especially my son Adam
  • Sharon and I going back to school in architecture and nursing with our husbands blessings and support
  • Making pasta and sausage with friends at their house
  • Many shared meals and a listening ear when needed

After we moved to the farm, we kept up long distance with visits and the annual egg roasts:

  • Mickey completely rewired our first old home in Woodland – later discovering the color of the wires were crossed, but everything worked, so we always had a laugh over it
  • Their Atlanta home was always open to us and shared with our daughter-in-law, Suzannah, while she was in law school and our son, Micah, while he was working in Atlanta
  • Egg roasts involved long distance planning and he and Al along with Sharon and Mary Ann coming early to get everything ready – he was often seen sitting by the fire smoking while everyone hunted eggs
  • One particular Egg Roast he took everyone on wild rides in his jeep over the dirt roads – a more boisterous Mickey and the beginning of the award called “6 Flags over Mickey”
  • When computers came, he and Ken Cook built and kept computers working at our home and Andy’s Housing Authority office, and he wrote very simple booklets to teach you how to work with the computers
  • Later visits to Al and Mary Ann and then Sharon and Mickey in Jasper which prompted our retirement there

Jasper years:

  • Mickey in a rocker on the porch or sitting in front of his computers with a cigarette and cup of coffee
  • Interacting with my grandchildren whenever they were in town – usually having a toy or project out for them
  • BBQ’s at Grandview Lake
  • Research and excitement over his work on the Bent Tree project with Don and Bob
  • Working at Good Sam with him
  • Support in many ways when Andy was sick and after his death – Mickey sat for hours in our driveway awaiting the arrival of a hospital bed from Hospice, so Andy could come home from the hospital

Mickey was there with his medical and counseling skills wherever and whenever needed:

  • We were comfortable, as were many others, calling with personal, family or friends issues and getting advice, explanations or referrals for medical, addiction or mental health problems or whatever was bothering you
  • Andy was always relieved to talk to Mickey and get complicated things explained in laymen’s terms that he could understand – Abby mentioned in her father’s obituary his skill in “turning complex concepts into memorable vignettes”

Along with his ‘quiet presence’, my memories of Mickey are as a ‘serial hobbyist’, a term that was mentioned in one of his obituaries. With each, he may have started a novice, but delved into it and became expert, then went on to something else. A few of his skills and hobbies were:

  • Tailoring
  • Sailing
  • Building a wooden canoe in his basement – Andy and Bob helping him figure how to get it out
  • Astronomy
  • Building and finishing out pole barn structures with the 3 old men
  • Hand tying fishing flies
  • Collecting dulcimers and learning to play
  • Decorating his cabin with Inuit art
  • Blacksmithing
  • Last, and certainly not least, delving into the pharmaceutical industry and drug trials, reanalyzing data, and working with researchers over the world to publish findings

GOODNIGHT MICKEY!
Miss your quiet presence. Would love to know what you, Andy and Al are up to now.

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Memory submitted by Tatyana Kelly

When did you meet Mickey?
1974

Where did you meet him?
Childhood father figure

Memory of Mickey
I have several memories of Mickey as a child. He was so different from my own father, who is careful in his interactions with the world.

Mickey approached things in a carefree, bold, inquisitive, demanding way; sloshing coffee along the way and not being bothered with decorum. He didn’t care what his hair looked like. He wore what was comfortable and familiar.

As something of a rule follower, I am still astounded that Atlanta City Parks allowed him and his friends to roast full animals (goat, pig and god knows what else) in a public park. Several years in a row. And encouraged us kids to camp out while they did. Pretty sure that wasn’t allowed, even back then.

He built a boat in his basement. In the city limits. I’m sure HE knew it was going to be the right size to get back out of the door, but I know I was pretty doubtful.

He challenged the status quo, knew what he wanted, and was a force of nature.

I’m glad to have known him.

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Memory submitted by Hunter McCreary

When did you meet Mickey?
1990

Where did you meet him?
Mickey was my godfather and very special to my family.

Memory of Mickey
When I was very little, Mickey taught me how to talk like Donald Duck. When I was in an interview trying to get accepted to a school, the interviewer came out and asked my parents if I always talked like Donald Duck? Turns out I had decided I didn’t like that school and decided to get out of it by doing the whole interview like Donald Duck.

He was always Uncle Mickey to me my entire childhood. He taught me how to blow bubbles with bubble gum, catch frogs with a pan, and always asked me how college was going, even when I was in middle school.

I remember him sitting outside on the front steps of the office building, smoking a cigarette, and asking me all kinds of questions about my life and school.

I loved him very much, and he was there for me recently during a difficult period in my life. He has always been there, and the world already seems a little less bright.

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Memory submitted by Jean Gora

When did you meet Mickey?
1975

Where did you meet him?
In Atlanta through mutual friends, Bob and Rosemary Wells

Memory of Mickey
I would hear stories about Mickey from time to time from Bob and Rosemary Wells, and I became a big fan of his exploits as told by them. Two come to mind. The first was his attempt to build a boat in the basement of his house on East Rock Springs Road in Atlanta. I understand that the boat was to be quite large, maybe big enough to travel on the Mississippi. To move it to Jasper, he had to take the door frame off his Atlanta house. Once in Jasper, the boat grew even larger. An edifice was built to house it. Jasper is not close to a navigable waterway. The logistics of moving it from Jasper appeared likely to be ever more complex. I was filled with admiration for someone who was willing to build a boat without caring a great deal about where it would ever reach a body of water where it would float. The task was more important than the final product. Over time, Mickey’s interest shifted in other directions. I understand that a storm finished off the boat at some point.

The other exploit of Mickey that I know about was his effort along with Mountain Stewards and others to geocode the locations of bent trees used by the native Americans as trail markers. As he geocoded the locations of more trees, he became aware that they lined up, in effect indicating trails, often trails leading toward water. This effort allowed Mountain Stewards and cooperating Indian tribes to recover parts of their history that left no written records. We were hiking the same mountains at the same time and were always on the lookout for trail trees. Maybe Mickey’s psychoanalytical mind drew him to this effort — his belief that an important reality can exist below apparently miscellaneous events. It was and is a wonderfully inspired way of looking at the world. I’ll miss him.