Celebrating an Extraordinary 47 Years

After more than 47 years of caring for patients in Franklin County, longtime Weems Memorial Hospital Clinical Laboratory Technologist Jean Roberts has retired.

For Roberts, a career at Weems was also a return home. Born and raised in Apalachicola, she graduated from Chapman High School in 1965 before moving to Indianapolis, Indiana, where she attended the Indiana Institute of Technology and earned her degree as a Clinical Laboratory Technologist.

Roberts began her career in Indianapolis, working in a physician’s office and managing its laboratory. In 1978, she returned to Apalachicola and joined Weems Memorial Hospital that October.

She would remain a familiar face in the Weems Laboratory Department for the next 47 years.

Over the decades, Roberts cared for generations of Franklin County residents, including many patients she had known for much of her life. Her knowledge and experience made her an important part of the laboratory team, while her friendly, positive nature made her someone patients and coworkers came to know and trust.

“Jean represents something very special about Weems,” said David Walker, CEO of Weems Memorial Hospital. “She came home and devoted nearly five decades of her career to caring for people in the community where she was raised. The experience and dependability she brought to our hospital are remarkable, but just as important is the way she treated people. We are grateful for everything Jean has given to Weems and to Franklin County.”

Roberts’ long tenure has been recognized by Weems throughout the years. In 2023, she was named Employee of the Month after being nominated for her dedicated work in the Laboratory Department and the friendly and positive attitude she brought to caring for patients.

Her own explanation for staying at Weems was much simpler. In a 2020 employee feature, Roberts said, “I love my job and the folks I work with!”

That love for her work carried Roberts through a laboratory career spanning more than five decades and a Weems career that began in 1978.

Weems recently celebrated Roberts and her retirement with coworkers, friends and family.

“Nearly forty-eight years with one hospital is an extraordinary legacy,” Walker said. “Jean has been part of Weems for so much of its history, and she will always be part of the Weems family. We wish her a wonderful and well-deserved retirement.”