NATCHEZ — Tears come to the eyes of former Marine Buddy Fly as he recalls memories of Dr. Margaret Veller, a neighbor and lifetime friend beloved to not just Fly, but to all of Natchez.

“I don’t know if Maggie knew it or not,” he said. “But she was a saint.”

After graduating from Vanderbilt University, Veller moved to Natchez with her parents, Derryl and Gladys Veller, in 1954. Fly said 1954 was also the year he and his wife Rose moved in next door.

“I would not have traded her as a neighbor with anyone,” Fly said. “Life was better knowing Dr. Veller was next door, it was like living next to an angel.”

Veller, who died last week, was a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist in Natchez for more than 40 years. She was the first woman OB-GYN to graduate from Vanderbilt University.

One Christmas, Fly said, Dr Veller dressed up like Santa Claus and delivered gifts to his visiting grandchildren.

“They saw Dr. Veller standing on the couch stuffing toys in their stockings,” he said. “They went back to Dallas saying Santa Claus does exist.”

At work, Dr. William Godfrey said she was just as irreplaceable.

“I would trust her with anything in my family that required OB-GYN care,” he said. “She is the well-qualified, competent, compassionate type of doctor you would wish for everyone.”

Godfrey said Veller’s practicing method was to take a personal interest in her patients.

“She cared very much about her patients, and in my opinion, her patients knew this,” he said. “If all the doctors in Natchez were like her, they would rate very highly in the community.”

Natchez resident Mary Jane Gaudet said Veller delivered all five of her children and she does remember the personal interest Veller gave everyone.

“Unlike doctors today, she would meet you in her personal office,” she said. “You would not have to wait three hours to only have two minutes with someone. She knew your whole life.”

Small things also made Veller stand out, such as her exam room, which had the gracious touch of a woman, Gaudet said.

“When you went into her exam room she would always have ballet pictures on the wall, and flowers on the ceiling,” she said. “You could always look up and see the flowers.

“It was the kind of thing that women could appreciate,” she said. “And of course, we were all women that came to see her.”

Ballet was one of Veller’s passions in life, Fly said. She took classes at the Middleton School of Dancing and used to dance in the Historic Natchez Pageant.

Fly said religion was so important enough to Veller that she went back and got a Masters of Theology later in life.

“Thanks to Maggie, I realized the Holy Spirit was in me,” Fly said. “I would have talks at St. Mary, and she was always interested in coming to hear what I had to say.”

Her biggest passion, however, was helping people, Fly said.

“If someone needed money, she would help out,” he said. “When she went to St. Mary with us, she was always generous. If her patients were poor, she would take care of them for free.

“She would also ring the bell for the Salvation Army at Christmastime,” Fly said. “And that was one of the best stories in Natchez, a doctor out ringing the bell.”

Veller could have lived in any house in Natchez, but she chose to remain next door to the Flys on Circle Drive until she moved to Magnolia Nursing home.

“She could have been a rich person if she had chosen to be,” Fly said. “But she wanted to help poor people.”

Fly said he considers himself and his wife the luckiest people in the world because they got to live next door to Veller and experience more of the kindness she showed to everyone.

“When she was young, the Holy Spirit got in her and took over,” he said. “I don’t believe there was a day in her life that the Holy Spirit was not dancing in her heart.”