11/01/2024
Mary Frances Beard, RN, is a retired registered nurse with an impressive professional journey spanning over 58 years. Upon retirement in 2002, she established the Pine Street Free Medical Clinic as a non-profit that offered free medical care, testing and health services to low-income, unemployed and uninsured residents in central Arkansas, in a time when health care and health insurance were difficult to access.
Mary provided her own money to begin operating the clinic out of Greater Pleasant Branch Church and four or five months later, she purchased a house in the Pine Street community to relocate the clinic into its own building. The clinic was staffed by volunteer doctors and nurses, including Mary, and saw more than 650 patients per year. St. Joseph School students volunteered at the clinic as part of their religion class service project, and other faith communities added volunteers and assistance. She also added an academic outreach center to complement Pine Street Free Medical Clinic’s role in serving area residents, which provided tutoring services for students in 5th-12th grades and enrichment activities for students in kindergarten through 5th grade.
Mary attended Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, and graduated with a nursing degree in 1975 from Compton College in California. She worked in a free clinic in Pasadena, California. Upon returning to Arkansas, Mary was one of the few black nurses at Conway Regional Medical Center. She served as a director of nurses at a nursing home, worked at Baptist Medical Center and opened her own residential living facility in the Pine Street community, which she operated for a few years. After retiring from Baptist, she worked at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center for ten years and retired from CHI St. Vincent in 2002 to establish the free clinic in Conway.
Mary has been honored with an Honorary Degree from Hendrix College, a Service with Heart Award by the Catholic Health Initiatives office in Lit
