George O. Sharrett

George O. Sharrett was born in Baltimore, Maryland on April 19, 1887, a son of George W. and Ina F. Sharrett. Sharrett first attended public schools and later Baltimore City College. In 1908, he was graduated from the Baltimore Medical College, and then took a two years course in the Baltimore Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital as assistant surgeon. Having qualified for this work, Dr. Sharrett relocated to Cumberland and built up a large and valuable practice.

During WWI, Dr. Sharrett enlisted in the medical corps and was commissioned as a Captain. He was assigned to Camp Sheridan in Alabama for a year. He was reassigned to Columbia University in NY to take a special course in brain surgery, just as the Spanish Flu epidemic was hitting. He was moved to Fort Ontario for the duration, and when it had subsided, he returned to Columbia to finish his course.

After the war was over, Dr. Sharrett returned to Cumberland and his practice. He became a member of the Allegany County Medical Society, the Cumberland Academy of Medicine and the Medical & Chirurgical Faculty of Maryland, as well as the AMA. In 1932, Dr. Sharrett was elected as President of the Faculty. He was also active in the Tri-State Physicians’ Club, the most active medical society in Western Maryland at the time.

Dr. Sharrett was the oculist and aurist for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and the Western Maryland Railroad, and was a member of the surgical staff at the Allegany Hospital, and the Western Maryland Hospital in Cumberland.

Dr. Sharrett died of a heart attack in Cumberland on August 27, 1936 while dining with his wife and child in a restaurant.