One of the first medical pagers in Minnesota began blaring in the early 1950s through the car horn of Dr. Ken Covey, a family doctor in rural northwestern Minnesota.

Covey, a ham radio enthusiast, had wired a makeshift two-way radio between his car battery and the local hospital for instant notification of emergency calls. By the time he and his family settled in Moorhead in 1966, dinner would rarely start on time because Covey needed to attend to the patients who called on him.

Covey died June 28 at age 96, ending a lifetime of medical service that included care for many homeless, migrant and otherwise indigent patients he served outside of his regular orthopedic practice, in addition to his role in founding Moorhead's first shelter for the homeless.

"We all do something, and Dad was always trying to do more," said Mark Covey, one of the doctor's five children, three of whom became doctors, in addition to the three in-laws who also practice medicine.

Covey and his wife, Grace, who died in 2012, became one of the first couples to share a McKnight Foundation Human Service award, in 1992, for their work arranging housing and free health clinics for migrant workers and the homeless. The two treated residents of the White Earth Indian Reservation without charge and later started a free clinic for migrant farmworkers near Crookston — both initiatives preceding government intervention in those communities.

"I just feel that as long as I'm healthy and able to do these things and have the talent, I should use it," Covey told the Star Tribune in a 1992 story.

Covey could often be seen into his early 90s bicycling throughout Fargo-Moorhead, wearing wingtip shoes and black orthopedic socks. He was a regular on extensive bike tours including Jim Klobuchar's long-running Jaunt With Jim tours of Minnesota, and similar treks across North Dakota and Iowa.

Covey also helped found Moorhead's Dorothy Day House homeless shelter in 1983. The shelter remains in the center of town, a living testament to Covey's belief that society shouldn't hide its homeless. He volunteered there three days a week for 26 years, invariably striking up conversations with residents who themselves or someone they loved benefited from his care.

"He had a special place in his heart for people whose voices were not being heard and who weren't getting their needs met," said Sonja Ellner, Dorothy Day executive director.

On the death of the facility's "resident caretaker" — with whom Covey struck a friendship over their shared love of cycling — Covey gave up one of two funeral plots he had purchased at a local cemetery. Covey offered up the plot when he learned the caretaker had no place to be buried. Now, Covey will share the other plot with Grace.

"That was it," Mark Covey said. "He just never really thought a whole lot before he helped people."

Covey is survived by children Catherine Covey of San Francisco; Elizabeth Swee of Moorhead; Jane Hovland and Christine Day of Duluth; Mark Covey of Felton, Minn., and 11 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Services will be held July 13 in Moorhead.

Stephen Montemayor • 612-673-1755