Dr. George Conrad Markert is to be honored by the Stroud Community Foundation and Avem Health Partners with the Heroes in Healthcare Award on Friday for his achievements during a healthcare career that spans six decades.
Born in 1929, Markert still works as physician at AVEM Clinic in Stroud, Stroud Health Care Center, and is the Lincoln County Health Director. Over his career, he has deliver 3,000 babies, provided free physicals to Stroud High School athletes for over 60 years, and provided free emergency care at the Stroud Regional Hospital emergency room.
The doctor has a history full of overcoming obstacles. When he was six years old, his father died, leaving his mother to raise two small boys during the Great Depression. He helped with chores and loading two semi trucks with milk each morning before school and later on took a part-time job loading train cars with coal.
He attended Oklahoma Baptist University and paid for his tuition himself. This is where he married his wife, Jayne King. He then owned a small, rural hospital in Stroud later on with Dr. Jones and helped many nurses acquire their nursing licenses, often helping with tuition, books, and other costs.
A reception where Dr. Markert will be given the Heros in Healthcare Award is to be held on Friday from 1-3 p.m. at the Family Life Center at Stroud First Baptist Church.