This is a special podcast edition of Radioactive. This was recorded earlier to celebrate the 104.5 birthday of Dr. A. James Paine. Dr. Paine, or Doc, has been a part of the Bluefield community for many decades. Current producer Joey Jarvis and former producer William Paine of Radioactive, sat down with Dr. Paine and talked about his life and career.
Check out a great biography that William wrote about his father, Dr. A. James Paine below -
Dr. A.J. Paine Notes
Dr. Albert James Paine Sr., addressed as Jim by those who know him and simply as Doc by others, was born on April 13, 1921, exactly one hundred point five years ago today.
Jim Paine was born in Wellsburg and spent most of his childhood in Parkersburg, WV He joined the Boy Scouts and attained Eagle Scout rank before graduating from Parkersburg High School.
In 1939, at the age of 18 Jim Paine drove from California to West Virginia in a Model A Ford. He bought the car for $105 knowing that it had a cracked engine block but he and the Model A crossed even with some mechanical setbacks.
Jim attended college at Marietta, Ohio then decided to join the army, just as his father had in WWI. He graduated from the Medical College of Virginia in 1945 and was then shipped to Alaska, where he spent the next two years before returning to Richmond for his residency. It was here Jim Paine met Bea Carmines, the love of his life, whom he would marry on December 10, 1949.
Whereto? Bluefield of course!
Bluefield was bustling in 1950 and Dr. Paine joined the staff of the Bluefield Sanitarium as an ear, nose and throat doctor.
After spending a couple of years in an apartment on North Street, Jim and Bea moved to Shady Avenue in south Bluefield. The Paine family grew to four children. Dr. Paine also had a private practiced in an office on the corner of North Street and Bland Avenue.
Dr. Paine was one of the first doctors in the state to use the electron microscope for his ear surgeries. His most common surgery was the tonsillectomy, of which he performed hundreds, maybe thousands during his long career. For a period of about 25 years, Dr. Paine was the only ENT doctor in Bluefield.
Jim was one of the founding members of Fincastle Country club in the mid-sixties. In 1964 Jim moved his family into a house he built and helped design on Mountain View Avenue. Meanwhile Bea had another boy while his sister’s son came from California to stay with the family.
Doctor Paine was also one of the original investors in the Bluefield Regional Medical Center which came to be in the mid-seventies and served the community for decades. He built his own office on North Street in 1976.
The family’s lifestyle was unique for the area. Thanks to patriarch the Paines grew up skiing with their first foray into the sport happening at Bald Knob, which opened in 1958, and was located across the highway from what became Winterplace in Raleigh County. For years, the family took ski trips to Vermont and then Colorado before Doctor Paine bought a condo at the newly opened Sugar Mountain Resort. He then invested in the Snowshoe ski resort, where he and his family spent many a happy year.
Jim Paine also took an interest in flying and took the family on trips in his Cessna 182 before trading up to a twin engine Beechcraft Baron. His wife Bea learned to fly too, as did two of his sons. Notably, wife Bea Paine became active in local politics and became Bluefield’s first woman Vice-Mayor. She was the driving force in preserving the city’s Old City Hall which still stands today.
Jim Paine was also an avid runner before running was cool in the 1960’s and was known for his daily run up East River Mountain. J 104.5 and its sister stations sponsored three A.J. Paine Sr. Up Over in October foot/bicycle races in 2007, 2009 and 2011. Jim Paine himself trekked up the mountain for the race, though he was 90 years old at the time. Tennis took up his spare time in the 70’s and bicycling became one of his hobbies in the late 20th Century.
He retired from his Bluefield practice on North Street in 2000 but worked at his son Jim’s office until 2006.
Bea passed away a couple of years ago and today Jim Paine lives with his son John at the same Mid-Century Modern residence he built back in 1964. Dr. Albert James Paine Jr. lives in Beckly and daughter Pam Abada, lives in Richmond. Brother/Cousin Rick Parsons lives in Roanoke are all are frequent visitors to the Bluefield West Virginia homestead on Mt. View Avenue.
Today, Jim’s hobbies today include reading, playing piano, exercising on his elliptical bike and watching Gunsmoke with his youngest son (William) Patrick Paine.
