WYNNE — Dr. Trent Beaton retired last Friday from Wynne Medical Clinic, bringing to a close nearly 75 years of Beatons in the local medical community. His father, the late Dr. Kenneth Beaton, began practicing medicine in Wynne in 1950.
“He and Dr. Vance Crane came. They both did their internship in San Antonio. They knew they wanted to come to Northeast Arkansas. Dr. Crane was from Monticello, and my dad was from the Rector/Marmaduke area,” said Dr. Trent Beaton. “They knew they wanted to come somewhere in Northeast Arkansas. Wynne/Cross County had just committed to building a hospital in 1949-1950. They knew there was going to be a new hospital so they chose Wynne.
“They used to practice out of Peterson Clinic, which is across from Cross County Bank,” Dr. Beaton added. “They used to do everything in that clinic before there was a hospital.”
The younger Dr. Beaton grew up in Wynne, graduating from Wynne High School and the University of Notre Dame. He attended medical school at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in Little Rock and served his residency in family medicine at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Dr. Beaton said he always planned to return to Wynne to practice medicine.
“I always since I was little just thought I was going to be a doctor,” he said. “I wanted to do rural medicine and so my intention was to come back here the whole time, although I wasn’t for sure if that was going to happen but that was my goal.”
Dr. Beaton also commented on his family’s legacy in medicine.
“We’ve had Beatons here for 79 years, and that’s coming to an end now,” he said. “My sons are going into different fields, neither one chose medicine. I always felt like my father and I were caring physicians who tried to do a good job and do a real particular look at the details.”
Dr. Beaton thanked his patients for their support over the years as well as his partners at Wynne Medical Clinic.
“My partners at Wynne Medical Clinic, they’re all very good physicians. They will continue to provide very good care for everybody,” he said. “I’ve been lucky to have really good partners and really smart partners. They’ll keep up and try to do a good job every day.”
Dr. Beaton said he plans to travel and spend more time with his family in his retirement.
