Dr. William Mark Miller, a Physician at Hopkins County Memorial Hospital, celebrated his 50th Anniversary as a Licensed Physician today, July 27, 2015. He earned his medical degree in 1965 and began working at the Hopkins County Memorial Hospital at the age of 27, where he has been ever since.
“I graduated from medical school about 50 years ago, and then I started an internship and residency in Fort Worth at a charity hospital call John Peter Smith Hospital,” Doctor Miller said. “I was there for two years. Back then there was a military requirement, so the choice was either Vietnam or to go to an Indian Reservation. I chose to go to Fort Totten in North Dakota. I was the sole doctor on a Sioux Indian Reservation where it was very, very cold in the winters. In fact, one winter, it never got above 20 below.”
When Miller returned to Texas, he joined fellow Doctors Claude Reynolds and Max Latham when they looked to him and Dr. Ronald Stanley for help at the Memorial Clinic. At the time Miller joined in 1970, the Memorial Clinic was small with only a Records Section and Waiting Room area.
“One thing that would be interesting to people now is that we used to charge $150 to deliver a baby and if they needed a C-Section, it was still $150,” Miller said. “Now there is a much larger charge. It’s almost a surgical charge. But back then it was $150 either way.”
Miller worked at the Clinic for nine years, and in 1970, he took a sabbatical for spiritual growth, taking time to learn scripture. During his sabbatical, Miller worked in the Emergency Room in Gainesville. Miller worked for a constant 36-hour work day once a week at the Gainesville ER before eventually returning to Hopkins County Memorial Hospital. For the past 20 years, Miller says, rumor has been spreading of his retirement.
“One of my partners, Dr. Stanley, that I came here with made up his mind that he was going to retire when he was 60, and he did,” Miller said. “Ever since he retired, people figured that it’ll soon be time for me to retire. However, Dr. Stanley, after a few years, started back. He’s now the doctor over at the Minor Emergency Medical Clinic. So he’s still working too. He’s got 50 years of practice as well.”
Dr. Miller has no plans to stop working until he believes it’s time for him to rest. “I don’t have any plans to stop,” Miller said. “My Modus Oporandus is just to pray and try to determine what God’s will is, and if I’m impressed that it’s time to stop or do something different, then I will, but so far I haven’t had any indication that it’s time to retire.”
