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The pleasures and dreams of childhood have shaped many a happy life, and none more than Dr. Lauren Spradley Oglesby’s.

“We lived across the Savannah River, just off the river,” Dr. Oglesby says. “We’d walk to the river, and we spent a lot of time in the boat.”

Dr. Oglesby grew up in Effingham County, Georgia, and came from medical residency to Beaufort Memorial Harrison Peeples Health Care Center in Varnville — not quite in her family’s backyard, but not far from it — in September.

Besides Dr. Oglesby and her three younger siblings, residents of the Spradleys’ 17-acre farm included assorted dogs, cats and chickens and a horse.

“We loved to be outside, in the country,” she says. “My childhood was the farm, and it was lovely.”

Off the farm, favorite pastimes were horseback riding, soccer and — country girl that she was — the 4-H Club. For a couple of summers, she had a 4-H booth at a local fair, she says, to provide the community with practical safety tips. One she remembers promoting: Use sunscreen! Hard to argue with that.

Excellence All Around

Well known in Hampton County, the Spradleys were no strangers to its attractions, either. Growing up, Dr. Oglesby once entered a watermelon-eating contest at the county’s popular annual festival.

She didn’t win, she notes ruefully, but that didn’t matter. She did excel at academics, and graduating as valedictorian of her high school class was perhaps a more significant accomplishment (not to mention a more useful credential when applying to college and medical school).

Church was always an important part of her life, too, and ultimately her faith led her to medicine. It was after a Christian mission trip to Peru in high school that she settled on her future profession.

“I knew I wanted to take care of and help people, and medicine seemed the best way to do that,” she says. “I’m not naturally talented in the sciences, so I had to work twice as hard. I was more drawn to the people side of things.”

Dr. Oglesby graduated summa cum laude from Mercer University in Macon, where she created her own major — international health and development with a minor in chemistry.

Later, at Mercer University School of Medicine, she picked the somewhat unusual specialty of internal medicine-pediatrics, or med-peds, which allows her to provide primary care to patients of all ages. She is now board certified in both internal medicine and pediatrics.

It’s fair to say that following the completion of a four-year residency in her specialty at University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, Dr. Oglesby was thrilled to return to her country roots.

“I do not miss the traffic and concrete of the big city!” she says.

A Dream Come True

Dr. Oglesby loves this place and its people, and she considers the opportunity to practice at Harrison Peeples not only an honor and a privilege, but also a dream come true.

“Growing up here, I feel like I really understand the people,” Dr. Oglesby says. “They’re hard-working. When they go to the doctor, they’re really sick, and all they want is a resource, a partner. They don’t need to be preached to and fussed at. They need to be helped.”

She and her husband (and childhood sweetheart), Clint, an electrical engineer, are now back home on the farm, 10 acres of which they acquired from her family. They have big plans for the land, which include growing flowers, vegetables and fruit trees.

The farm is their first love, of course, but the Oglesbys also enjoy boating on Lake Murray, where the family has a cabin, and following college football. Their team? UGA or Carolina, Dr. Oglesby says, “depending on the day.”

To schedule an appointment with Dr. Oglesby or any of the other providers at Beaufort Memorial Harrison Peeples Health Care Center, call 803-943-5228.