Doctor leaves behind legacy as surgeon

Dr. Samuel Neff gave all of himself, both in the operating room and in the Clovis community, according to his friends and family.

Neff, 96, of Clovis, died Wednesday, leaving behind a legacy as a surgeon and a well-liked community member.

Neff returned to his hometown after he served as a fighter pilot during World War II.

That's when he became a surgeon at the Curry County Hospital and Plains Regional Medical Center, practicing medicine from 1957 to 1996, according to his daughter Maryl Neff.

"He was a kind man, and served everybody he could. I have people tell me all the time, 'Your dad saved my life,' or 'he saved my mother's life,' or 'he did surgery on me.' He was very well respected," she said.

In addition to his medical service, he served as president of the New Mexico-El Paso chapter of the American College of Surgeons, the New Mexico governor of the ACS, and an active member of the Clovis Rotary Club and Clovis Executive Club.

In all of her father's affairs, kindness was paramount, Maryl Neff said.

"He was very kind and level-headed. He was intelligent. He was thoughtful. He always provided thoughtful answers to things, he did not fly off the cuff, he did not get mad at people," she said.

Clovis Mayor David Lansford said he first met Neff when he came in for a checkup in junior high school, and the two forged a friendship.

"When he retired from medicine, he came to my pharmacy quite frequently, and we had serious chats about various things," he said. "For me personally, he was an encourager. He always had some encouraging words for me as a pharmacist and as the mayor of Clovis."

Lansford recalled Neff's "sincere approach to patient care."

"It was all about providing the care that he trained himself to provide, and I think he was just a very sincere and serious minded physician that took every case to heart, and tried to improve the health and well-being of the patients that sought his care."

Neff committed just as seriously to his friendships, namely his best friend Elwyn Crume.

The two met when neither Crume, an optometrist, nor Neff had any business, and decided to have coffee together, according to Crume's daughter Diane DeWitt.

"That started a friendship of 60 years. They've owned an airplane together, they owned a cabin in Ruidoso together, and they've gone on vacations together. The kids grew up together, so they were very, very close friends," she said.

Having grown up around Neff, DeWitt remembered working for him as a phlebotomist and witnessing his kind nature firsthand.

"I saw him on a professional level just take over, but be so commanding and so calm, and not rude to other people who worked at the hospital. He was always very patient with the nurses and the other physicians," she said.