Dr. Pierre Romeo Pinard, born in Batiscan, Quebec, in 1870, overcame early hardships to establish a successful medical career in South Dakota. Orphaned young, he worked while pursuing education and eventually graduated from the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons in 1893. After brief practices in Michigan and Wisconsin, Dr. Pinard settled in Geddes, South Dakota, where he became a respected physician and community leader. Active in local healthcare governance, he served as vice-president of the county health board and was involved in professional associations. He married Susie Lawrence in 1896, and they had two children, Noel and Kenneth.
Pierre Romeo Pinard, M.D., is a native of the town of Batiscan, province of Quebec, Canada, where he was born on the 4th of May, 1870, being a son of John Noel and Amelia (St. Cyre) Pinard, of whose thirteen children the following eight survive: Dr. Philip H. A., who is a practicing physician at Jefferson, South Dakota; Denise, who is the wife of Eugene Lemire, of Chassell, Michigan; Turibe, who is engaged in the grocery business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Horace, who is a resident of Waterbury, Connecticut; Mary L., who is the wife of Horace Boiverre, of Montreal, Canada; Arthur, who is engaged in the manufacturing business in Madison, Wisconsin; Archie, who is a photographer in New York City; and Pierre R., who is the immediate subject of this review. The parents were both born in Canada, and there the father of the Doctor prepared himself for the priesthood of the Catholic Church, but shortly before the time when he was to have been ordained, he found that his heart insistently demanded the object of its devotion and he accordingly was united in marriage to Miss St. Cyre. He then engaged in teaching as a vocation, and with the exception of a brief period during which he served as a government revenue inspector in Canada, he continued to follow the pedagogic profession, both he and his wife being devoted members of the Catholic Church, while they resided in Montreal, Canada, until their deaths.
Dr. Pierre R. Pinard received his early educational training in the parochial schools, and he was but fifteen years of age at the time of his father’s death, being thus doubly orphaned, since his mother passed away when he was a child of but three years. Being deprived of his father’s care and guidance, the lad was thrown upon his own resources at the age noted, and for the ensuing four years, he worked for his board and clothing and a very small financial recompense, while he continued to attend school during this period. At the age of nineteen, he had saved enough money from his small earnings to enable him to defray the expenses of one year in college, and he accordingly entered the Victoria College of Medicine and Surgery, in Montreal, where he pursued his technical studies for one year. His brother Philip, who was then engaged in the practice of medicine, advised him to come to the United States to continue his medical studies, and in June 1890, he accordingly came to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he secured employment, devoting the early morning hours and the evenings to the study of his chosen profession, having as preceptor Dr. Messhoff, a prominent physician and surgeon of Milwaukee. In March 1891, the subject came to Jefferson, South Dakota, where he continued his medical studies under the direction of his brother until the following autumn, when he was matriculated in the St. Louis College of Physicians and Surgeons, in St. Louis, Missouri, where he remained during the winter, while the following summer was passed in Jefferson, this state, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he continued his studies under his former preceptors and also found employment in order to secure the funds with which to continue his collegiate work. In the autumn he again entered the college in St. Louis, where he was graduated with honors in the spring of 1893, receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine and coming forth well qualified for the active practice of the profession, in preparing himself for which he had labored so indefatigably and earnestly. He located in Chassell, Michigan, where he remained a short time and then came to South Dakota, establishing himself in practice in Lesterville, where he successfully continued for six years, after which he passed a year in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the expiration of which he located in Geddes, being numbered among the founders of the town, and here he has since been actively engaged in the practice of his profession, having the confidence and high regard of the people of the community and being recognized as one of the skilled physicians and surgeons of the state. He is a member of the South Dakota State Medical Society and on June 1, 1903, he was appointed medical examiner on the board of pension examiners in this section. On May 1, 1903, he was appointed vice-president of the Charles Mix County board of health. In 1903 the Doctor took a two-month post-graduate course at Chicago Polyclinic and three weeks at the Illinois School of Electro-Therapeutics, of Chicago. He and his wife are communicants of the Catholic Church, and fraternally, the Doctor is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
On the 23rd of June, 1896, was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Pinard to Miss Susie Lawrence, of Lesterville, this state, and they are the parents of two children, Noel Lawrence and Kenneth Oscar. Dr. and Mrs. Pinard are prominent in the social life of the community and are numbered among the most popular citizens of Geddes.
Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.