Pioneer. Millwright. Farmer. Teacher. Merchant. Legislator. Physician. Whatever their trade, whatever their profession, generation after generation of the Monroe and Bruton families has passed down the same legacy to their heirs, be grateful for your heritage and feel responsible for others.
Both John Monroe, M.D., and Ebbie Bruton Monroe grew up in families where public service, education, and medicine became the means of "paying their civic rent." Ebbie and John are particularly proud of their sons Edward C. Monroe, DDS in Southern Pines, and Clement D. Monroe, DDS in Pinehurst, for continuing the family legacy by volunteering their time, providing dental care for those in need.
Ebbie's grandfather served in the N.C. House and Senate, her uncle was the state's attorney general, her father was the long-time sheriff of Montgomery County, and her great-aunt was one of the first teachers in Biscoe's one-room schoolhouse. John's mother, grandmother and two aunts were schoolteachers, too, and his grandfather was an original trustee of the Biscoe Graded School District, the first state-supported school district.
And of course, there was John's "Uncle Clem," the legendary Clement R. Monroe, M.D., the first chief surgeon/administrator of Moore County Hospital, who dedicated his life to medicine and to the people of Moore county. He used to tell John and Ebbie how he treasured the tremendous trust and support he received from the hospital's Board of Trustees and from the community. "They've done so much," he would say, "I can't let them down." John and Ebbie feel the same about their ancestors.
The couple has carried on a family legacy to make life better for others. As a teacher and member of local, county and state educational organizations, Ebbie focused her endless energy on improving public education which she considers the "backbone of any community." During his 32-year career as the area's first otolaryngologist (head and neck surgeon) with Pinehurst Surgical Clinic and Moore Regional Hospital, Dr. Monroe was a leader in providing quality health care to the community. Since his retirement in 2001, he has continued volunteering his time to a variety of community organizations like Kiwanis of the Sandhills and to the Foundation of FirstHealth as a member of the Foundation's Legacy Circle.
Growing up in Moore County near West End, John always wanted to be a physician. "I idolized my Uncle Clem; he was my mentor and my inspiration for going into medicine." As a teenager in the early 1950s, he did his first suturing under his uncle's tutelage in the operating room at Moore County Hospital, where "birds sat on the windowsill and a flyswatter was a sometimes-necessary piece of equipment."
Both John and Ebbie were raised on family farms — he in Moore and she in Montgomery counties — and attended small rural schools that left them having to play catch-up when they reached college - John at UNC-Chapel Hill and Ebbie at UNC-Greensboro. John's dream of being a physician was threatened when his advisor suggested he "pick something else to do" after his first year. He changed his advisor, persisted and earned a degree in chemistry before going on to UNC School of Medicine in 1958.
When John proposed marriage to Ebbie she was teaching vocational home economics at Terry Sanford High School in Fayetteville. After they were married in 1961, Ebbie taught math and science at Chapel Hill Junior High School. The next year, they and their first son, John Jr., moved to Pennsylvania where Dr. Monroe completed an internship at Geisinger Medical Center before beginning his two-year military obligation as a U.S. Air Force Flight Surgeon.
Once he completed flight surgeon training, John and his family moved to Rhein-Main Air Base in Frankfurt, Germany, where a second son, Clement, was born. In March 1964, Dr. Monroe was hailed as a hero in The New York Times after he volunteered to go to East Germany to recover a young flyer injured when shot down by the Russians. "It was a scary experience," Dr. Monroe recalls.
His orders were to demand the prisoner's return; but the more difficult task proved to be convincing the patient he wasn't a Russian spy. After the airman's successful release, he was asked why he trusted John. The airman replied "It was his southern drawl. I didn't think he could fake that."
John, Ebbie, and the children returned to North Carolina in 1965, where he completed a residency year in general surgery at N.C. Memorial Hospital. They then moved to Virginia for his three-year residency in otolaryngology at the University of Virginia Medical Center. Their third son, Fred Bruton was born during that time.
In 1969, John moved his young family to Moore County. He joined Pinehurst Surgical Clinic; the practice co-founded in the late 1940s by Uncle Clem. He was not only the first specialist of his kind at Moore County Hospital, but also the only one in five counties. "I worked night and day for the first months, and never left town for the first two years," John remembers. By 1975, two other specialists joined the ENT team, and a fourth son, Edward, had joined the Monroe family.
"Taking care of each other includes making sure all people have an opportunity
to be educated and to live healthy lives."
Although busy with his practice, John and Ebbie devoted themselves to their children and to improving the public schools which she called "the laboratories for the growth, development and preservation of our democratic society."
John developed a hearing screening program for elementary school children, and together with Ebbie, who had trained as an audiology technician, implemented it with the help of the Medical Wives Auxiliary. He volunteered as team physician for a variety of school sports and recruited other doctors to offer free annual physicals for Moore County students participating in athletics.
Ebbie developed a volunteer program for the schools, wrote and coordinated a pre-event nutrition program for high school wrestlers, taught Red Cross classes, and became the first woman to chair the Moore County Recreation Commission.
For almost three decades she served on countless committees as a member of the Moore County School Advisory Council, as a trustee of the Sandhills Community College, and as a member of the North Carolina State Board of Education. In 2007, when Ebbie was honored as one of the state's educational leaders, former Governor Jim Hunt said, "There's never been a parent in Moore County more involved in the schools than Ebbie Monroe." Ebbie and John are proud that the public education their sons received fully prepared them for higher education.
"I want to give something back to the Hospital
which meant so very much to my uncle and our entire family."
For his part, Dr. Monroe was equally devoted to improving health care for people and a better quality of life for those in the community. He served as President of the hospital Medical Staff and President of the Pinehurst Surgical Clinic. Dr. Monroe and Crenshaw Thompson, the hospital administrator, at that time spearheaded the establishment of the radiation therapy unit. During his career, Dr. Monroe served on numerous boards and committees for both the hospital and surgical clinic. He was particularly interested in technology and realizing the potential beneficial impact it could have on the delivery of health care never turned down an opportunity to do whatever he could to bring the latest technology to the area.
So, it was no surprise when, in the late 1990s, he agreed to chair the Foundation's "In Love and Service" campaign to raise $10 million to build a comprehensive cancer center, patient tower, and new emergency facilities-the most ambitious expansion in the hospital's history to that point.
A few months before John retired, he and Ebbie were honored at the FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital Auxiliary Ball for their lifelong dedication to the hospital and the people of Moore County. "The Monroe family has steadfastly supported the hospital and the well-being of several generations," said Charles T. Frock, CEO of FirstHealth of the Carolinas at the time.
Today, John and Ebbie continue living the legacy of caring they inherited from generations of Monroes and Brutons, a legacy they'll pass on to their sons and their children, who will one day say, "They've done so much. We can't let them down." To this day, whether it's helping a neighbor or Hospice, provider enrichment or Clara's House, or many other areas of need they remain engaged in their community.
To learn more about planned giving opportunities such as Charitable Trusts through The Foundation of FirstHealth, please call our office at (910) 695-7500.
