Doctor Margie: Country Physician

Marjorie Ferrell was always a bit precocious. She could count to a hundred before she was three, and when she showed up for the first grade it only took the authorities a day or two to recognize that she belonged in the second. She completed college in three years and was accepted as one of three women in the medical school class of 1943, which she completed in another three (aided by wartime acceleration of the program). When she opened a medical practice in her hometown of Bullard, Texas, folks could only think of her as the little girl they remembered riding her bicycle down Main Street. However, they soon realized they had a hero in the making and quickly dubbed her "Dr. Margie" This is her story.

Dan Roper had the opportunity to observe his mother in action and was initially repelled by the sacrifices inherent in a medical career. After graduating from Bullard High School he attended the U. S. Air Force Academy, but his goal of becoming an Air Force Pilot was thwarted by poor eyesight. He compensated by attending his mother's medical school and becoming an ophthalmologist. He had to wait for his mother to retire before he could do likewise, but keeps active with locum tennens and volunteer work. His first novel, "The Eye of the Hurricane" did not permit him to quit his day job. He and his wife, Ann, reside in Fort Walton Beach, Florida when they are not visiting Bullard or grandchildren on both coasts.