
In 1948, Dr. Jake Roden, brother of Pinkie Roden who established his “Pinkie’s” liquor store chain, came to Midland, Texas – a young ranching town about to enter the Oil Boom of the 1950’s. Dr. Roden was the only Board certified Obstetrician between El Paso and Ft. Worth and converted a house at M Street and Illinois into a delivery unit and operating room “garage” where he delivered over 800 babies. Midland Memorial Hospital opened its doors in 1950 as Midland had grown to a town of 25,000 citizens with an average age of 29 due to the oil patch drawing in geologists, geophysicists, engineers, attorneys, and independent wildcatters. Dr. Walter Parks joined Dr. Roden in 1951 and Dr. Garland Lang was added in 1953. Finally Dr. C. Roy Johnson joined the group in 1956. Roden, Parks, Lang and Johnson planned the original Midland Women’s Clinic which opened in 1958 at 2009 West Wall Street. Just prior to the grand opening, Dr. Roden, due to illness, left Midland to become a medical school professor in Missouri. Surprisingly, when Dr. Charles Guerriero joined the group in 1963, M.W.C. became one of only two Obstetrical Clinics in the U.S with 4 physicians!
The physicians added many firsts in Midland including the first Pap smear in 1959, the first fetal monitor – donated by Dr. Roden’s brothers, Pinkie and Red, the first colposcope, the laparoscope in 1966 with the arrival of Dr. Norman Fry, and Dr. James Humphreys who joined the group in 1973 added office sonography. The first female Obstetrician in Midland, Dr. Debbie Sciscoe, joined the group in July 1986 on the same day as Dr. Gary Madden who currently is the senior partner at M.W.C. Dr. Johnson practiced for almost 30 years at M.W.C, Dr. Parks for over 30 years, and Dr. Fry for 40 years!
In 1999, M.W.C. moved to the medical office building at 4214 Andrews Highway attached to the West Campus Hospital. This allowed the office to be a one-minute walk from the labor and delivery unit, postpartum floor and surgical suite giving the Clinic the highest level of access to immediate patient care. Physicians from MWC performed the first outpatient laparoscopic appendectomy in the area, the first suprapubic bladder mesh sling procedures, the first laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomies the first Robotic hysterectomies and continue to lead in the growing medical technologies. Dr. David DeShan, who joined the group in 1990 helped the clinic become one of the first practices to convert to computerized medical records. Dr. Brady Locke who joined in 2001 added office urodynamics, and Dr. Ben Doke who joined in 2006 pioneered new vaginal reconstruction procedures as well as office uterine ablations. Through the years, the office developed an award winning laboratory, bone density dexa scans, 4-D ultrasonography, and aesthetic lasers. Dr. Reagan Viney added her expertise in robotic surgery and actually served as a proctor to help train other surgeons and gynecologists in the new technology which provides better vision and precision in surgery.
By 2004, M.W.C. had added 2 P.A.’s, Randal Morgan and James Struble, as well as, Dr. Ronica McBrayer who joined in 2009. The Clinic added Dr. Reagan Viney to its team in 2011 and in September 2015, we added Dr. Beverly Yee to our team bringing the number of providers including the P.A.’s to nine. M.W.C. has returned to a location near the main campus of Midland Memorial at 2500 W. Illinois since all services have been returned to the newly renovated hospital. Midland Women’s Clinic has been and continues to be a model for collaborative medical excellence for OB-GYN care in Midland with our organization existing for over 60 years with the vision of excellence, growth, and innovation! Thanks to Dr. Roden, Parks, Lang, Johnson and Fry for your reputations and examples.