Dr . David Tucker , a true Gravette “ Pioneer ”
By Steve Wilcox Special to Gravette Community Guide
It ’ s been a while since Dr . David Tucker was referenced to as a “ Yankee ” anywhere in Arkansas , particularly not in Gravette , where he ’ s as much Arkansas as red soil or a strolling razorback . People there have long forgotten he ’ s from Michigan , the Upper Peninsula no less . Now , he ’ s simply “ one of us ,” and that familiarity , along with decades of commitment to the community ’ s health needs , made him Gravette ’ s Pioneer Citizen last year .
Dr . Tucker was born in Minneapolis , where his dad was playing basketball at the University of Minnesota , and grew up in Ontonagon , a town of less than 1,500 people along the shore of Lake Superior in Michigan . His
dad taught math and was a high school basketball coach , and his mom was a reporter for the local newspaper and had a local radio show for 55 years . She retired two years ago from the radio station and a couple of years before that from the newspaper .
He earned his undergraduate degree at Michigan Tech University , then went on to the University of Michigan Medical School .
“ I was in Ann Arbor for four years , and by a series of mistakes and coincidences , ended up doing my residency at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth , Texas ,” said Dr . Tucker . “ There I met Dr . David Hall , who ’ s the son of Dr . Billy Hall , who started the medical community at Gravette back in 1951 .”
Dr . Hall was coming back to Gravette and his dad and
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Dr . Garrett , who were the two physicians serving the community at the time , mentioned that he should “ find someone else to bring back with you ; we need more doctors .” And so the dance began .
“ My wife Kelly and I are both from Ontonagon , and we appreciate the values of a small town in raising kids , and we had three young kids at the time . We didn ’ t want to stay in Texas and this was a few hundred miles closer to home , and even so , we had gotten used to the warmer weather ,” said Dr . Tucker . “ When I came up here and visited , for a small town and a small town hospital , the medical community – the ability to do things – was advanced compared to other small towns . I was going to be able to deliver babies , do surgery , all the things I had trained for , which was something you didn ’ t always get
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to do in small towns .” The Tuckers moved to Gravette in July 1986 and have been here ever since .
“ I had never been south of I-94 in Ann Arbor in my entire life , until I did my interview for residency . I didn ’ t realize being called a Yankee was that bad until I got to the South ,” he laughed . “ There was some culture shock for me : I came from a small town in the Upper Peninsula , people from downstate looked down upon us , made fun of us , so I was used to that . I used to give it back to the guys down there ( in Texas ) as
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