University Foundation to honor Talberts as Friends of the University

Pioneering Cape Girardeau cardiologist Clifford R. Talbert Jr. and his wife, Bettie, will be honored with the 2018 Friends of the University award Friday by the Southeast Missouri University Foundation.

They will be recognized as part of the annual President�s Council Gala. The event begins at 6:30 p.m. in the atrium of the River Campus Cultural Arts Center, the university said in a news release.

The award is the highest honor bestowed by the foundation.

Clifford Talbert began medical practice in 1965 in Cape Girardeau. As the only trained interventional cardiologist in this area, he introduced many cardiology procedures at Southeast Hospital and Saint Francis Medical Center, university officials said.

He helped develop cardiac clinics at hospitals in Perryville and Sikeston, Missouri, and Murphysboro, Illinois. In 1977, he founded the Cardiovascular Consultants Medical Group in Cape Girardeau and recruited others, expanding to eight cardiologists. He was co-chairman of Southeast Hospital�s surgical search committee, recruiting the first cardiac surgeons to the area.

The Talberts have been avid supporters of Southeast Missouri State University, are members of the foundation President�s Council and have demonstrated a long-standing commitment to Southeast�s River Campus, school officials said.

They have been annual donors to Symphony Orchestra and theater scholarships and were major contributors when the Southeast Missouri Symphony Orchestra participated in the 2009 American Celebration of Music in China.

Bettie Talbert has served on the Southeast Missouri Symphony Board. In addition, the family also has established the Dr. Clifford Talbert, Jr., Endowed Medical Scholarship for premedical students.

Clifford Talbert contributed to the building fund of the newly constructed Pi Kappa Alpha house in Southeast�s Greek Village. The couple also established the Bettie Talbert Endowed Alpha Delta Pi Pledge Scholarship for an �Outstanding Pledge of Alpha Delta Pi� at Southeast.

Bettie Talbert is credited with founding Delta Nu chapter of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority at Southeast, and over the years she has mentored many groups. She served on the executive committee and as a rush adviser for the sorority for more than 25 years. In 1970, she was appointed to the international office of director of membership selection of Alpha Delta Pi, a position she held for seven years.

She trained and supervised the Central High School majorettes. In 1968, she was honored by the Cape Girardeau Jaycees as �Outstanding Young Woman of the Year.�

Clifford Talbert began his journey into medicine as a premedical student at the University of Missouri. After three years, he was accepted to Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, graduating in 1959.

He completed his residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and cardiology training at the University of Missouri Medical Center.

Clifford Talbert served as the director of Cape Cardiac Missouri, an American Heart Association program in which registered nurses trained small hospital nursing staff on cardiac patient care, university officials said.

During his presidency of the Missouri Heart Association, his goal was to open CPR courses to lay public in Missouri instead of policy limiting training to health professionals.

Bettie Talbert organized a group from the Medical Auxiliary to become instructors. With assistance from the American Heart Association, the 10 instructors trained more than 1,000 people during the first year, and then trained Cape Girardeau police officers, firefighters and physical education instructors to train their own members.

Clifford Talbert served as president of the Cape Girardeau County Medical Society, chief of cardiology at Southeast Hospital and chief of cardiology at Saint Francis Medical Center. He was designated as a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology in 1981.

In 1984, the Talberts developed Plaza Galleria, which was centered by an indoor ice skating rink. It was home to a competitive skating team that won many first-place trophies, university officials said in the release. The Galleria closed about 14 years ago.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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