Hero in healthcare
Dr. George Conrad Markert has long been a staple in Stroud. From the over 3,000 babies that he’s delivered in his 59year career in the town, to working in the ER at Stroud Hospital.
“One of the first memories I had was in the ER and he’s suturing somebody’s mouth, and I’m getting a little queasy,” said former nurse Beverly Ash, who met the doctor when she was a nurse tech at the age of 16. “And he noticed that. He sent me to the vending machine to get a stick of gum. I’ve never seen him chew gum.”
Ash shared more stories of her time working with the doctor, from getting through nursing school because Markert and his colleague Dr. William Jones paid her way, to worrying about damaging his medical books during a tornado. She even admited that they bumped heads a few times, the most notable case when the hospital began implementing a no smoking policy and she found him smoking a cigar in the nurses’ lounge.
“He let me know who was boss,” she said with a laugh. “The one thing I would tell him is, ‘You know, I’m going to retire before you.’ And I was right about that.”
Ash was one of many speakers who honored Dr. Markert as he was awarded the first annual Healthcare Heroes Award by Avem Health Partners and Stroud Community Foundation.
Born in 1929, Markert graduated from OU Medical School in 1960, where he met Dr. Jones, whom he worked with in Stroud. Markert still practices medicine, working at Avem Clinic and Stroud Health Care Center, where he is on call 24/7, even though he’s now 94. He’s also the Lincoln County Health Director.
Ed Dyer, CEO of the hospital in Stroud, presented Dr. Markert with the award at Stroud First Baptist Church on Nov. 10.
“How can you acknowledge someone that has done so many things and accomplished what he has done for this community?” Dyer said. “I haven’t known Dr. Markert that long, but he just exudes integrity, honesty, commitment, all the different adjectives you can come up with to explain the life of Dr. George Conrad Markert.”
The doctor was also presented with a proclamation by the Stroud City Council, delivered by member Debbie Garrett, naming Nov. 10, 2023, Dr. G. Conrad Markert Day.
“Thank you. To those of you I’ve served, I hope I helped, and I appreciate being a doctor,” Markert said.
“It was a privilege to be a doctor. And I’m sure I owe some of you a few other favors.”
Others honored Dr. Markert including resident Aleta Smalley, who said through a letter that Markert saved her life by “nagging” her into surgery after she was diagnosed with cancer at 39. Markert, himself, offered a few stories as well, including visiting his old clinic that had been closed since 2004. He used to get calls day and night while working there, making it hard to sleep sometimes.
“Anyway, we opened the door, and you won’t believe us. The phone was ringing,” he said. “I can’t believe it.”
Eric Markert, the doctor’s son and a doctor himself as well as a colonel in the National Guard, said that it’s hard to explain to his colleagues that his father is 94 and still practicing medicine.
“They kind of look at me like I’m crazy,” he said.
He said that his father was one of 260,000 physicians in the U.S. when he finished his internship in 1960. While there are more nowadays, Eric wondered how many doctors who graduated in 1985 are already retired and enjoying their 60s.
“I’d kind of like to do that,” Eric said. “But a matter of pride tells me that I can’t do that until my dad retires. Hint. Hint.”