Columbus resident receives prestigious award from Emory Alumni Association

Whether it's genuine modesty or just interest in subjects other than himself, when the Ledger-Enquirer visited Dr. Sidney Yarbrough III at his midtown Columbus home to report about the prestigious award he had won, the retired orthopedic surgeon seemed more eager to discuss the turtles in his garden and the mementos he has collected from traveling around the world.

But when he agreed to sit down and express what receiving the Jake's Golden Heart Award means to him, Yarbrough is more than happy to talk about Emory University.

"My reaction was one of awe," he said of the May 10 ceremony, "and I was much humbled by it."

Given by the Emory Alumni Association, the award is named after Dr. Judson "Jake" Ward, former dean of alumni. The recipient must possess one or more of the following attributes:

Generosity of spirit and willingness to serve others.

Above and beyond loyalty to Emory University.

Extended and exceptional yet humble contributions of time and service to the university and to one's community.

Yarbrough, 79, received all of his postsecondary education at Emory, from bachelor's degree through medical school. He is an avid donor to the institution that has impacted four generations of his family. James DeLamar, grandfather of his wife, Becky, attended the College of Physicians and Surgeons, a forerunner of Emory's medical school, in 1902-03. Yarbrough's father, Dr. Sidney Yarbrough Jr., was in the class of 1932 at Atlanta Southern Dental College, which also was affiliated with Emory. Yarbrough's son, Robert, earned his medical degree in 2001 from Emory and is an orthopedic surgeon in Cumming, Ga.

Yarbrough's personal connection to Emory started when he was a sophomore at the Darlington School in Rome, Ga., and back home in Columbus to accompany his father at an Emory alumni dinner meeting in St. Paul United Methodist Church.

"I was very impressed," he said. "So that was sort of a gift he gave me. I didn't really think too much about it then, but it was the beginning of a story."

The beginning of a love story, the love of an institution that gave so much to him, he has been on a mission to give so much back.

A year after that alumni dinner, during the summer between his junior and senior years in high school, Yarbrough's father died of a heart attack at 48.

"I miss him," he said. "We were good friends. I used to go hunting with him. He always came to watch me play football when I was at Darlington. He was a supporter of mine. I appreciated that, and, all of a sudden, he was gone. So I realized the responsibility of my life basically belonged to me. I was going to do whatever I had to do. I chose to go to Emory."

One of his teachers at Darlington asked him, "Sidney, what do you want to do in your life?"

"I want to be a physician," he replied.

"Well, pardon me," the teacher declared, "but I don't think you'll ever make it."

The teacher was referring to his grades not being as good as they ought to be. Yarbrough proved the teacher wrong.

"Well, at Emory, they said if you made an A in organic chemistry, you could get into medical school," he said. "So I made an A in organic chemistry, and I got into medical school."

After earning his bachelor's degree in 1959 and graduating from medical school in 1963, Yarbrough served in the Air Force. He returned to Emory for residency training in orthopedic surgery. In 1970, he settled back in his hometown and had a private orthopedics practice in Columbus for 27 years, then retired in 1997.

Yarbrough served on the Emory's medical school board of advisors, supporting education, research, development and advocacy. In 1998, Becky established the Sidney H. Yarbrough III MD Endowed Scholarship in Medicine, the first of the couple's many philanthropic gifts to the university.

The scholarship has helped more than 15 students pay for medical school, including someone close to home. Phenix City native Charles Fortune IV, a member of Emory's medical school class of 2017, received the Yarbrough scholarship.

"I wanted to come to Emory," Fortune said in an article on the school's website. "In order to afford it, I was going to need some help."

Yarbrough understands the power of such assistance because he has been on the receiving end as well.

"I had a scholarship the first three years at Emory in college," said Yarbrough, whose mother, Martha, taught at Rose Hill School. "I started to apply for a scholarship to medical school but I refrained from that because I realized I didn't need to do that and there were so many other people who needed to do that, so I just took my name out of the pot."

Asked what Emory has meant to his life, Yarbrough said, "The relationship I've had with Emory is such a positive relationship in all aspects that, when I finished at Emory, I never thought I had anything but good friends there. And, indeed, over my life as a practicing physician, it did literally turn out that way. I had friends up there, and I still do, that have been lifelong supporters and friends, and I suspect, if you want to put it in economics, I have given back to Emory, and I never ever regret it. Becky and I have given lots of money, and I've never regretted a dime. I can tell you, payback is fun."

In 2004, the Yarbroughs sponsored the Emory School of Medicine's 150th anniversary celebration. In 2005, they provided funding to name a group-learning room in the James Williams Medical Education Building.

Yarbrough participates in Emory regional programs and hosts events in his home for alumni, friends and prospective students, including Charter Day celebrations to mark the university's founding.

Michele Obester, events manager for the Emory Alumni Association, said it's been a pleasure working with the Yarbroughs.

"It became clear very quickly that Dr. Yarbrough embodies the spirit of our award in every way, but especially through his longtime service and generosity to both his community and to Emory," she said. "We are fortunate to call Dr. Yarbrough an Emory alumnus."

As a patron of the arts, Yarbrough serves on the board of advisors for the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory. He also serves the Columbus area as a member of the Stewart Community Home Board, where he was chairman for three years. He is a supporter of the Muscogee County Library Foundation, the Columbus State University Foundation and First Presbyterian Church of Columbus. The Columbus Museum has named a gallery in his honor. The Modern American Gardens and the Cultural Landscape Foundation's national calendar featured the Yarbroughs' garden and home.

Mark Rice, 706-576-6272. Follow him on Twitter@MarkRiceLE.

This story was originally published May 30, 2015 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Columbus resident receives prestigious award from Emory Alumni Association."