SURPRISE Frank Joseph Fara, M.D.

– Frank Joseph Fara, M.D. of Surprise,

AZ, left this life on April 7, 2022, after a full, fascinating life. He began as one of the chosen few; adopted as a newborn by Frank Joseph Fara, M.D.

(senior) and Nancy (Fredrickson) Fara, he proudly carried his father’s name and honored it throughout his life. The senior Dr. Fara was a prominent physician and surgeon in Chicago, and his wife was a registered nurse, and previously, the head stewardess at United Airlines. Both, sadly and too soon, preceded him in death.

Dr. Fara was raised in Riverside, IL, received his early education at Riverside-Brookfield high School, then came into his own at St. John’s Military Academy in Delafield, WI, graduating in 1968 as valedictorian, class poet, and charter member of the National Honor Society. He received his baccalaureate education at Northwestern University, graduating with a BA in Psychology in 1973. During his years at Northwestern, he played ice hockey for NU, and remained a proud supporter of the Wildcats throughout his life. After leaving a doctoral program in Experimental Psychology at the University of Louisville, he realized his professional ambitions and entered Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, receiving his M.D. degree in 1978. He then received specialty training in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Baystate Medical Center in Springfield, MA. It was there that he met and married his one true love, Carla Jean (Hynds) Ferris, R.N. He always said that she was the best Labor and Delivery nurse he had ever met. For decades, she was there for him, in good times and bad, with a faithfulness only love can bring. He was certain that he would never have developed in to the man and physician he became if she had not been in his life.

From that point on, their adventures together truly began. Their lives and careers led them to practices in Rhinelander, WI, Phoenix and Scottsdale, AZ, Martinsville, VA, then finally back to their desert home in Surprise AZ. In over 38 years of active practice, he was fortunate to be able to work with many of the giants in the field, many of whom he numbered as friends. His greatest professional pride, however, was the warm relationships he forged with his nursing colleagues in Labor and Delivery, the operating rooms, and in the offices of his practices through the years. He also took great pride in serving as a mentor to medical students, residents, and young physicians in his community. In addition, he greatly treasured the relationships he fostered with the thousands of patients for whom he cared over those years. Those patients became his truest friends. He was honored to have delivered nearly then thousand babies in his career, and kept hundreds of photographs of those babies which he saved as mementos of those special times. In his office, he proudly hung his many diplomas and certificates earned over a life’s work, but it was the many photographs and letters he received from patients that were the true fruits of his labors, and he treasured each and every one.

Of far greater importance to him, however, was his relationship with his family. His dearest lifelong friend and confidante was his beloved sister, Mary Fara Lewis, a close and loving relationship that they both held dear, and, though distance too often separated them, their love for each other was strong and unbroken over the years spent together. She was also adopted, a month and a day before Dr. Fara, and together they were raised as twins.

He was fortunate to count his nephew, Kenny Lewis as his friend, and deeply valued his relationship with him and his wife, Meghan.

He loved music and the arts, was perplexed by math and science, was a lifelong democrat, a liberal, and a cockeyed optimist, always preferring to find the best in all; he was seldom disappointed. He was a published author and poet, play good hockey ad bad golf, and was an inveterate crossword fanatic. His sense of humor and his ability to tell a good joke or two (or ten) was legendary, and he was never above a good practical joke.

His marriage to Carla was the greatest of his many adventures, and remained that of which he was most proud. They were dog people (Pooter, Ditto, Rags, Mouli and Millie), River rats, proud members of “the Dirty Dozen” (another great story), and, although they travelled the world, their deepest affections were to the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon, and to those friends made on the River. Over thirty years they ran the River on rafts fifteen times, the last in their mid-sixties. Over the years they were fortunate to be able to bring each of their family members on River trips, and it was their greatest joy in doing so.

Although he was never able to have children of his own, Dr. Fara was proud to have played a significant role in raising his “store-bought” children: two sons and a daughter brought to their union from Carla’s first marriage. Each remained a beloved part of his life as they grew from child to adult, and then to parent, and always to friend. Jason and Lena Ferris brought him the rascals: grandsons Jackson and spencer; Ben and Ana Ferris gave him the princesses: Maya and Rayna; Natasha and Dean Frodel gave him the bruisers: grandsons Cade and Colby. Then the adventure continued. In 2019, Dr. Fara discovered a daughter, Heather, who was born during his residency years in Massachusetts. She and her husband, Derek, were warmly welcomed into the family, and quickly became a treasured member of the crew. They gave him the unexpected gift of three more grandchildren: Will, Julia and Ben. His greatest regret was the distance that separated his children and grandchildren as they grew, the unfortunate result of the demands of work which kept him from being a more active part of their lives. Though late in life he tried, he was never able to share those golden years with them as much as he would have wanted.

Late in life, Dr Fara was able to research his birthparents, who gave him the gift of longevity: each lived until their late eighties. His research into his ancestry was interesting, but was done out of curiosity only. To the end, he considered his adoptive parents his real family, and his dear sister his real sister. It was this family that meant the most to him throughout his long life.

After a short interval of forced retirement at sixty-five, he unexpectedly and happily returned to practice with Adelante Healthcare, and joyfully continued to provide care to a new group of patients, women who deserved care and were grateful to receive it. Adelante became his last professional family. He continued his full time, practice including obstetrics, until 2019, when he was given a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. His treatment plan was arduous, and though he missed medicine until his death, he was unable to continue. (Despite his expert care given by Nina Uppal, M.D., Shelly Gandhok, M.D., Michael Choti, M.D., and Boris Naraev, M.D., he succumbed to his disease on Thursday, April 7th, 2022, fighting all the way.)

He will be sorely missed by family, friends, patients and medical professionals.