Dr. Julian D. Parker was the oldest of seven children and the son of a wealthy southeast Georgia farmer. Julian spent much of his free time making house calls with his grandfather, a physician. After his high school graduation, Parker's father gave him a choice. Either be gifted a large amount of land or have his college paid for. Wanting to be like his grandfather, Dr. Parker chose to go to the University of Georgia to become a doctor. He interrupted his studies at medical school to serve in World War I and was assigned to an Army medical detachment on a hospital ship in New York Harbor. There, he attended to injured soldiers coming back from Europe and those afflicted by the Spanish influenza epidemic. After his graduation, Parker became an intern at a hospital in Jacksonville before finally moving to Stuart in 1924 with his wife, Ola. The young doctor helped organize and was one of the first doctors at the St. Lucie Sanitarium upon arrival. The Sanitarium, located at the end of Coconut Ave on Hospital Pond, was Martin County's first hospital. Ultimately, the hospital closed just a few years later, in 1936, due to the Depression. Parker became the area's only doctor following the closing. As the sole doctor, he traveled wherever needed, often accepting fish, fruit, and chickens in barter for his services. Patients were asked only to pay what they could, and he never charged more than $3 for an office visit and $5 for a house call throughout his entire career. Julian made a name for himself in the community as the local doctor and as a School Board member, deacon at First Baptist, Stuart High School football team physician, and the Martin Memorial Hospital chief of staff. On November 11, 1960, the elementary school on 10th St. was named in his honor. By his retirement in 1985, he had delivered 4,000 babies here in Martin County throughout his career. At the corner of 5th and Hibiscus, his home still sits today, just a block west of the first hospital he served. Just two years later, the beloved doctor passed away at the age of 91.