NEW ULM, Minn. — Dr. Marc Burkhart has played a key role in his community of New Ulm for 33 years. He's been a part of several thousand lives from the moment they were born, as an OB/GYN at New Ulm Medical Center. Now, however, he's retiring.
Saturday, the New Ulm community made sure to give him the send-off he deserves with a retirement party.
"I like children, I like pregnant ladies and I like to do the deliveries," Dr. Burkhart said. "It's always exciting for the baby. It's exciting for the parents but it's also exciting for me too, It's never something that's gotten old."
Burkhart says there's never been a dull moment in the delivery room, not even after 6,441 babies. Of those deliveries, 4,837 were in New Ulm.
Among those attending his retirement party was his latest and final baby, Aggy Holm, born on August 24.
"If I remember, she came out screaming," Dr. Burkhart said.
"She was pretty right away with her pretty hair," Aggy's mom said, beaming.
What made the night even more special is that Mike Carlson was there too, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; he was the first baby Burkhart ever delivered.
"The doctor that I was working with was doing the delivery so he invited me in with the patient's consent," Dr. Burkhart explained.
All these decades later, the first baby held the last delivered by Dr. Burkhart, bonded by a doctor they didn't remember, but are grateful for.
"I've gotten to know families and it seems like everyone is related to somebody in New Ulm. That's been a nice way of building a practice and maintaining a practice," he said.