Joseph A. Fernandez

Sorrells Funeral Home

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Posted by: Sorrells Funeral Home
[email protected]
334-347-9598
Date: Mar 31 2021 2:05 PM

Joseph Anthony Fernandez, M.D. F.A.C.S., of Enterprise passed away of a long illness on March 30, 2021

Funeral services will be at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, April 2, 2021 at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church with Father Zachary Greenwell officiating.  A private burial will take place at Barrancas National Cemetery in Pensacola, FL at a later date with full military honors.  The family will receive friends at the church beginning at 12:00 p.m. and continue until time of service.  Face masks and social distancing will be required to attend these events.   

Dr. Fernandez was born to Jose Maria Fernandez and Antonia Fernandez, in El Ferrol, Spain on February 7, 1942.  Growing up on Staten Island  New York he accepted a four-ear Naval ROTC Scholarship at the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque where he graduated and was commissioned a 2^nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1964.

Dr. Fernandez was designated a Naval Aviator in 1966 and served in the Republic of Vietnam from April 1967 – May 1968.  In the Marine Corps he earned the Presidential Unit Citation, multiple Air Medals, the Combat Action Ribbon and Purple Heart.

On return from Vietnam he transitioned to jet aircraft and became a jet flight instructor at NAS Meridian, Mississippi.  On leaving the Marine Corps in 1970, he flew Huey helicopters for the Mississippi National Guard as he attended medical school at the University of Mississippi Medical School in Jackson.

Dr. Fernandez returned to active military service because of Desert Storm, he completed his service and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel and began private practice in Enterprise and Ozark, Alabama.

He retired from medical practice in 2007 but remained a member of the Coffee and Dale County Medical Associations.  He served as a Clinical Professor of Urology for Duke University in North Caroline and has published articles in several medical journals as well as becoming a Board-Certified Urologist and Fellow of the American College of Surgeons.

Locally, he was a large, if anonymous benefactor for several charities and a member of St. John’s Parish in Enterprise.  He was known to all as a kind and generous man. Was a devoted husband and father and cherished by his family.

He is survived by his wife, Ruby Franklin Fernandez (formerly of Jay, FL); his two sons Joseph Fernandez (Kimberlee) of Enterprise, AL and John Fernandez of Asheville, NC.  He has five granddaughters, Skyler Henley (Christian), Raven Brock (Kyle), Jolee-Ann, Isabella, and Elizabeth Fernandez and two great grandsons, Leo Henley and Bear Brock.

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