Florence “Pat” Hearne (Brookhart) Yount was born on March 5, 1909, in Washington, Iowa, the daughter of Jennie (Hearne) and Smith Wildman Brookhart, who served in the U.S. Senate. Interested from an early age in science, Pat received the support of her family when she decided to pursue a medical career. She attended the George Washington University Medical School in Washington, D.C., where she was one of five women in a class of eighty-eight.
She received her medical degree in 1935 at George Washington University where she met Clarence Edgar Yount, Jr., who was also studying to be a physician. They married in Pat’s family home in Washington, Iowa, in June 1936 and honeymooned in Prescott. Pat moved to Prescott after finishing her residency in pediatrics at the Children's Hospital in Chicago. She went into practice with her husband and father-in-law, who was also a physician, in the Old Masonic Temple Building in downtown Prescott. Their office had its own x-ray equipment and a laboratory. Specializing in pediatrics and obstetrics, Pat gained many loyal patients; she made house calls, provided emergency care to children at the local hospital, and accepted payment "in-kind" when patients were short on cash. Although she faced some gender discrimination early on, she quickly won over patients and their families by providing excellent medical care.
During the Great Depression, Pat set up a well-baby clinic at an existing medical clinic in Prescott. She stressed the importance of a good diet, conducted physical checkups, and provided immunizations. During these years, Arizona had a very high infant mortality rate. A Yavapai County physician credited her clinic with keeping babies healthy during one summer when not a single child died.
The decades of the 1940s brought new changes for Prescott and Pat. She gave birth to a son, John Edward, on September 6, 1940. During World War II, when many male physicians served in the armed forces, Pat continued caring for patients, working with the older physicians who were still in town. Prescott’s Mercy Hospital burned down in 1940, and Dr. Yount worked with others to find space for a new community hospital which opened in 1943. Several years later, after the community outgrew this hospital, she organized the medical community to campaign for another new hospital.
Pat belonged to the Methodist Artists Guild, and during her spare time, she contributed her talent as an artist in pastels. The Yount family lived at 339 Park Avenue. Always interested in all phases of the history of Prescott and Arizona, Pat wrote many well researched articles. She was most instrumental in the establishment of the Territorial Women’s Memorial Rose Garden at Sharlot Hall Museum. In recognition of her dedication to this project, the Board of Trustees of the museum voted for her inclusion among its honorees in 1996.
Pat died November 25,1988 and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery.
Donor: Ann Tewksbury, May 21, 1996
Photo Located: Backlog – Martin Caldwell Collection 2011.033
Updated: Mary Melcher, October 2015
