For years, Ann Wilkerson played an instrumental role for the Arthur Center.

The longtime Montgomery City resident served as a member of the Arthur Center board, worked as an advocate for people with mental illness and started a National Alliance of Mental Illness group in Montgomery County.

During the Arthur Center Community Health Clinic open house on May 30, a dedication ceremony was held in honor of Wilkerson, who passed away on Jan. 19. Arthur Center CEO Terry Mackey put up a photo of Wilkerson at the entrance of the three-month-old building, which is located at 1225 Aguilar Drive in Montgomery City, off Highway 19.

“She’s a great lady, teacher, businesswoman, board member, advocate for illness and an amazing person,” Mackey said. “We miss her.”

More than 40 people attended the 90-minute open house that included seven members of the Wilkerson family. Refreshments were served and tours of the facility were given.

“I want to thank all of the family, friends, neighbors, schoolmates, Wellsville people who graduated, friends and business people for being here for Ann,” said Bob Wilkerson, Ann’s widower. “I really appreciate it. I’m really honored by what they did for Ann.”

Bob and Dana Wilkerson – Ann’s daughter – got a sneak peek of the building in January while it was still being built. Dana, who is an author, said she was thrilled for the Arthur Center to honor her mother at the new building.

“Mom would have been so excited and so proud,” Dana said.

Nick, Claire, Vera, Chad and Beth Wilkerson were the other family members who attended the open house.

The 11,000-square foot facility opened for business on March 21 after 17 months of construction. It was originally scheduled to open by August 2023 before it ran into construction issues.

“We are glad to be able to offer medical care to Montgomery County,” Mackey said. “This was a long building process that took a whole lot longer than we have participated. We’re glad that we’re opening. Currently, we have primary care and behavioral health services here. We’re trying to contract with a dentist, so hopefully we’ll have that available soon.”

It cost about $4 million to get the facility built. The clinic includes dental equipment which costs about $400,000.

“We did get some money that passed to the state of Missouri,” Arthur Center Chief Financial Officer Linda Hopkins said. “They were ARPA funds that came from the federal government for us to expand services. It was a matching grant, so we had to match it. We did get some money in order to help us with the construction of our building.”

The clinic is open from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday for primary care and 8 a.m.-6 p.m. on Thursdays for behavioral health. Its staff includes Dr. Eric Kondro, family nurse practitioner Carolyn Canterbury and psychiatric nurse practitioner Victoria Sanford.

“Right now, we’re just barely scratching the service of filling this building,” Mackey said. “But we do plan to add some more primary care providers and nurse practitioners soon. We didn’t have the space until this opened. We know Montgomery County needs healthcare.”