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Born at Chakrabongse House in Bangkok, Thailand on July
31, 1924, Amarabhinob Kitiyakara was the second son of Amorn
Samanlaksana Kitiyakara and Javalit Obhas Rabibadhana. He attended St.
Gabriel's Preparatory School in Bangkok and pre-med at Chulalongkorn
University before enrolling in medical school at the University of
Medical Sciences in Dhonburi, Thailand. After his graduation in 1949 he
continued his education in the United States, receiving a Ph.D. upon
completion of a joint major in pathology and cell biology from the
University of Wisconsin. He also did a post-doctoral fellowship from
1951-1966.
While in the USA, Dr. Kitiyakara fell in love with Janet Grimm of
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and they were married in 1955. They lived in
Madison, Wisconsin until 1967, when they moved to New Iberia, Louisiana.
Here Dr. Kitiyakara participated in research at the Gulf South Research
Institute. The next year the Kitiyakara family moved to New Orleans
where in 1971 Dr. Kitiyakara became Assistant, then Associate Professor
of Pathology at LSU Medical Center. In 1999 he received a Certificate of
Merit from the Orleans Parish Medical Society for being a member of the
medical profession for fifty years.
The Kitiyakara family included four children; Kiti, born August 15,
1956; Javalit, born July 7, 1958; Amarit, born August 23, 1960 and
Narunart, born December 29, 1967. When his children were growing up,
birthdays were always celebrated with a special pound cake with orange
sauce that Amara baked which was affectionately referred to as "Daddy
cake." Amara is remembered by family and friends alike for his
intelligence, his kindness and his gentle, unassuming nature.
Although he spent most of his life in the USA, Amara spoke often of his
beloved homeland. His memories of growing up in Thailand were related to
his family in the United States and enjoyed as if they were stories in a
wonderful book. He spoke of his grandfather handing out bars of
Toblerone chocolate when he came to visit and of climbing the tamarind
tree to pick fruit at his house in Songkhla. Children nearby would come
to play in Songkhla and Amara's education during that period of his life
was a tutor who would come to the family home and use the guest house as
a schoolroom. These were among Amara's fondest memories and he often
spoke of returning to Thailand one day. When Amara retired from work in
2004, Janet gave him the most loving gift a wife can give her husband by
making his dream come true. She brought him home.
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