Celebrating 30 Years of Service with Mark Ralston

Congratulations to Mark Ralston for 30 years of service at St. Mary’s.

In today’s time, it is few and far between to hear of someone celebrating 30 years of service to one organization. Recently, Mark Ralston, Manager of Public Relations, celebrated just that accomplishment, and the entire St. Mary’s family thanks him for his extraordinary service.

Being passionate about writing, Mark was drawn to journalism in high school and into college as it demonstrated a practical way to pursue his interests and make a supportable income. In 1992, he was working behind the copy desk of the Athens-Banner Herald when a good opportunity came at a time that he needed a change. A previous colleague and mentor, Lorraine Edwards, told him about an opening for a public relations manager at St. Mary’s. Since then, Mark’s time at St. Mary’s has been one full of excitement, innovation, and growth.

Throughout his 30 years, Mark has enjoyed working with the people of St. Mary’s as well as learning and teaching new things. The technology and growth changes throughout the past 30 years are extraordinary to reflect on. Mark has created the St. Mary’s tone throughout the countless writing projects he has completed for the system. He loves the mix of writing content for a variety of audiences that might be both educational and promotional. Mark doesn’t describe his role at St. Mary’s as the typical PR role but rather so much more integrative to all things writing.

When Mark starts a project, his primary goal is to make a difference. The personal patient stories he has written are a great example of how he makes a difference and certainly impacts our community. Not just anyone can take highly clinical and technical terminology and eloquently mold into content that can draw any community reader right into the story. It is a gift from God.

Outside of work, you might find Mark riding his recumbent bicycle, hiking, walking the dogs, and spending time with his wife and three daughters while proactively engaged with environmental protection efforts. He has completed the bicycle ride across Georgia three times, which entails a weeklong journey of over 400 miles!

As much of an impact as Mark has made these past 30 years, St. Mary’s has made just as big of an impact on him. He never expected his career would lead him to healthcare, but after 30 years there’s no other place he would rather be. Again, the entire St. Mary’s family is blessed beyond measure to have Mark on our team and is grateful he isn’t quite ready for retirement.

We welcome you to congratulate Mark on his 30 years of service by emailing us from our contact us page on the website.