A Father’s Day Tribute: Honoring the Generations Before

Some lega­cies are woven into the fab­ric of our lives through sto­ries, tra­di­tions, and the qui­et exam­ples of those who came before us. For Sarah McIn­tyre, PA‑C, that lega­cy is alive not just in her fam­i­ly his­to­ry but also with­in the very hall­ways of Quin­cy Med­ical Group (QMG). Here, her grand­fa­ther and great-grand­fa­ther once cared for patients, just as she does today.

This Father’s Day, we cel­e­brate the endur­ing impact of fathers, grand­fa­thers, and the gen­er­a­tions who shaped not only fam­i­lies but entire com­mu­ni­ties. Sarah’s sto­ry beau­ti­ful­ly illus­trates how this influ­ence can res­onate across decades. Her grand­fa­ther, Dr. Mer­le Cross­land, was a gen­er­al sur­geon, and her great-grand­fa­ther, Dr. Wal­ter Whitak­er, was a pedi­a­tri­cian and one of the clinic’s founders whose vision helped build the foun­da­tion of QMG.

Inspired by a Rep­u­ta­tion of Compassion

Grow­ing up in Quin­cy, Sarah always knew health­care was a sig­nif­i­cant part of her family’s sto­ry. How­ev­er, it wasn’t just the pro­fes­sions her grand­fa­ther and great-grand­fa­ther held that left an impres­sion — it was the way peo­ple spoke about them.

“When I was younger, I’d be out to din­ner with my grand­pa and peo­ple would stop to thank him for sav­ing their life or a fam­i­ly member’s life. That always stuck with me,” she recalled. ​“It was clear that what he did made a last­ing impact, and peo­ple still remem­bered and appre­ci­at­ed him.”

That appre­ci­a­tion extend­ed beyond patients.

“I’ve had cowork­ers share sto­ries about how he advo­cat­ed for nurs­es and sup­port­ed his team,” Sarah shared. ​“That real­ly inspired me. I want to car­ry that for­ward — to be part of some­thing that makes a dif­fer­ence in people’s lives, both patients and colleagues.”

Con­tin­u­ing a Pedi­atric Passion

Today, Sarah is doing just that. She works as a physi­cian assis­tant in pedi­atrics, the very spe­cial­ty her great-grand­fa­ther helped estab­lish at the clin­ic near­ly 90 years ago.

Though Sarah nev­er had the chance to meet him, his influ­ence is no less pow­er­ful. ​“I’ve heard a lot of sto­ries from my mom,” she said. ​“She talked about how he cared for kids in the com­mu­ni­ty and how peo­ple still remem­ber him fond­ly. Adults will say things like, ​‘Your great-grand­fa­ther took care of me when I was a kid.’”

Dr. Whitaker’s lega­cy is not only per­son­al to Sarah but also deeply tied to QMG itself. His belief in acces­si­ble, physi­cian-led care helped shape the orga­ni­za­tion into what it is today.

“It fills me with pride, hon­est­ly. He was so com­mit­ted to this com­mu­ni­ty. There are a lot of towns like Quin­cy that don’t have strong access to health­care. He saw the val­ue in this com­mu­ni­ty and invest­ed in it,” she explained. ​“It’s mean­ing­ful that peo­ple con­nect­ed with his vision, and that we’re still here, near­ly 90 years lat­er, because of that. I feel so hon­ored to be part of con­tin­u­ing what he started.”

Sarah and our team of pedi­atric providers are proud to con­tin­ue this tra­di­tion of car­ing for our com­mu­ni­ty’s chil­dren, offer­ing a lev­el of care that tru­ly feels like fam­i­ly. Dis­cov­er more about our pedi­atric ser­vices and meet our team.

Val­ues That Endure

That sense of pur­pose — and pride — is also root­ed in the val­ues her grand­fa­ther passed down.

“He grew up on a farm and was one of sev­en sib­lings. He worked so hard to get where he was,” Sarah said. ​“He also believed in giv­ing back. He was involved in the com­mu­ni­ty, sup­port­ing local orga­ni­za­tions like the Quin­cy Sym­pho­ny and the Humane Soci­ety. That’s some­thing I car­ry with me — invest­ing in the place you live and giv­ing back to it.”

Integri­ty and a strong sense of right and wrong were cor­ner­stones of her grandfather’s life.

“He had a very strong moral com­pass. Doing the right thing was always impor­tant to him, even when it was hard. That’s some­thing I try to live by too.”

Though her grand­fa­ther passed away while she was in col­lege, he knew Sarah was plan­ning to pur­sue a career in health­care. They both attend­ed the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois and would often share sto­ries. She wish­es she could sit down with him now and talk about the work they both loved.

“I often say to my cowork­ers that I wish my grand­pa was still here so I could talk to him about the joys and chal­lenges of work­ing in health­care,” she said.

A Proud Con­tin­u­a­tion of Purpose

This Father’s Day, Sarah reflects on the men who helped shape her path.

“I’d thank them both for their com­mit­ment to this com­mu­ni­ty — for believ­ing in the good in small­er towns like Quin­cy and the sur­round­ing areas,” she said. ​“I’m so proud of the lega­cy they left. I don’t know if I’ll ever ful­ly mea­sure up to it, but I’m incred­i­bly grate­ful for the exam­ple they set and the impact they made.”

At QMG, that lega­cy con­tin­ues — not just in name, but in spir­it. The same val­ues that guid­ed Dr. Whitak­er as a founder — com­pas­sion, acces­si­bil­i­ty, and physi­cian-led care — are still at the heart of what the clin­ic does today. And in pedi­atrics, Sarah sees those val­ues lived out every day.

“Fam­i­lies trust us to care for their kids — it’s such an hon­or,” she said. ​“I feel lucky to work with peo­ple who go above and beyond. That same spir­it my great-grand­fa­ther and grand­fa­ther had — it’s still here.”