Lucian Morell Weast was born February 7, 1877 in Yellville, Marion County, Arkansas to the farming family of Lenard S. and Sarah Elizabeth Williams Weast. He attended Yellville schools and in 1896-97 the University of Arkansas where he and his brother, Virgil, participated in the University’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. In the fall of 1897 he enrolled in Barnes Medical College in St. Louis, receiving his degree in medicine and graduating with the senior class of 1899-1900.
Upon graduation he returned to Yellville where he and Alta Brooksher were married on May 19, 1901. “With the exception of a brief period in Vian, Oklahoma, Dr. Weast spent the remainder of his life in Yellville where for many years he served as a typical “country doctor”. In his early practice calls were made by horseback; in later years he owned one of the first automobiles in the county.”*
In addition to his medical practice, Dr. Weast served the public as county health officer, and for many years was resident physician for the Missouri-Pacific Railroad. Both Dr. Weast and Mrs. Weast were prominent in civic, social and political life of the county. He served several years on the Yellville-Summit School Board and was formerly chairman of the Marion County Democratic Central Committee.
On March 24, 1966 Dr. Weast died at his home in Yellville, having practiced medicine in Marion County for nearly half a century. Funeral services were held at the Weast residence and interment was in the Layton Cemetery at Yellville.
*Baxter Bulletin (Mountain Home, Arkansas), April 7, 1966, Page 8.
John T. Mitchell, BSBA August 17, 2019