Thirty Years of Family and Medicine in Willmar, MN

For Drs. Tony and Mary Amon, medicine has always been defined by connection. Their relationship began at the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth Campus, where the small class size fostered a unique environment of shared success and collective support.

"Duluth was smaller, there were only 45 to 48 students then, and we did everything together," Mary says. "If there was a party, everybody went. After a big test, we celebrated together."

It was within this tight-knit group that they found each other. They started studying together, and a friendship quickly formed based on mutual respect and shared goals.

"Tony and I just got to be really good friends," she remembers. "We had a lot of very similar values."

Their relationship grew alongside their medical knowledge, leading to a wedding just before they earned their degrees, and after graduation, they solidified their commitment to working together by entering the couples match for residency. They landed in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where they were able to train side-by-side. This dynamic has continued for thirty-plus years in Willmar, Minnesota.

"We've even shared offices," Tony says. "We really don't know anything different."

Both physicians hail from small towns in Minnesota, Mary originally from Bird Island and Breckenridge, and Tony from Crookston, and their backgrounds inform their approach to medicine. In Willmar, the Amons have found that being doctors means being woven into the fabric of the town. It is an immersion in daily life that provides a perspective sometimes lost in larger medical systems. They don’t just care for patients; they care for their neighbors. This proximity means that their work often follows them home, blurring the lines between their professional and personal lives in the best way possible.

"We’ve stitched up kids at our kitchen table after hockey, football, and baseball games," Mary recalls.

It also means that a simple trip to the supermarket can turn into a curbside consultation, a reality their four children witnessed firsthand.

"We'd go to the grocery store, and somebody would stop me and say, ‘hey, what did my mammogram show,’ or ‘explain what my lipids are?’" Mary laughs. "And my kids would be just like, ‘oh my gosh, can we not do this?’"

Their passion for medicine has influenced their own family. Despite Tony's stating that none of their kids set out to be doctors, three of their children ultimately followed them into medical school, attending the University of Minnesota Medical School, Duluth campus. One daughter even met her husband there, just like Mary and Tony. The Amons believe their children's choices were influenced by seeing their parents find genuine joy in their work.

"If you truly love what you do, and you're not coming home complaining," Tony explains, "then your kids kind of see that this is a viable opportunity for them, too."

Mary and Tony’s deep community integration is something they now pass on to the medical students they mentor through the Medical School’s Rural Physician Associate Program and Willmar Rural Residency Program. They view teaching not just as an obligation but as the definition of their role.

"In Latin, doctor means ‘to teach,’” Tony said. “We feel very strongly about that," 

Whether mentoring students, raising a family of future physicians, or caring for neighbors, the Amons have built a legacy grounded in the simple, powerful idea that a doctor is, first and foremost, a member of the community, something that hundreds of other family physicians in Minnesota do every day, too.

"Patient first, patient first," Tony said. "That’s always struck home with us."