Dr. Bob Cogburn

Dr. Bob E. Cogburn has accepted an appointment as a director of the South Shore Foundation, the charitable foundation of Northern Arkansas Telephone Company. The foundation’s chairman, Jodie Elizabeth Jeffrey, made the announcement.

A physician residing in Marion County’s Fairview community since 1999, Dr. Cogburn treats patients with cancer and hematology problems at his Mountain Home practice, Cogburn Cancer Clinic. He has the rank of colonel in the U.S. Air Force following a 20-year military career, 1966-’86.

Dr. Cogburn’s appointment to the South Shore Foundation Board is for three years. He accepted the position saying, “I firmly believe professional people need to be keenly aware and involved in the functioning of our society.” Dr. Cogburn is a past chairman of the American Cancer Society’s Professional Education Committee and served three years on the Arkansas Medical Society’s Medicare Carrier Advisory Committee. He enjoys the outdoors as a fly fisherman.

The South Shore Foundation funds scholarship programs for Marion County high school graduates, Arkansas State University Mountain Home students from Marion, Boone, and Baxter counties, and leadership training programs for Marion County youth and adults. The foundation also grants funds to nonprofit groups for projects that further environmental preservation and economic development. It was established in 1997.

Dr. Cogburn and his wife, Beverly, relocated to the Flippin area from Little Rock, where he had been in private practice after his Air Force career. He served at DaNang Air Base’s 22nd Casualty Staging Facility, 1967-’68. Part of his medical training was at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at Little Rock and part was at Air Force hospitals. He was stationed at Keesler AFB in Mississippi, Wright-Patterson Medical Center in Ohio, and Hill AFB in Utah.

Before joining the military, Dr. Cogburn graduated from Fort Smith High School, completed nursing school at Tulsa, then earned a biology degree at Phillips University at Enid, Okla.

The Cogburns have a daughter, Varnell Del Vecchio, and a son, Carroll Wayne Cogburn.

For more information about South Shore Foundation, call 1-888-SSHORE1 (774-6731).