Page 11 - Summer 2013 magazine

When Mari Grana drove from her LaJolla home to

Montana in 1980 searching for the true story of her
maternal grandmother, she knew she was looking for
someone special. The extraordinary person she found
was Dr. Mary Babcock Moore, a woman determined to
practice medicine despite the challenges facing her as a

female doctor in the United States in the late 1800s.
The story of her grandmother is entitled Pioneer Doc-
tor: The Story of a Woman’s Work.

Dr. Mollie, as she be-
came known, graduated

from the Woman’s Hos- found herself practicing medicine during World
pital Medical College of War I, the suffrage movement, the Spanish Flu
Chicago in 1887; none pandemic and dozens of discoveries and develop-
of the regular medical ments in the medical profession. Dr. Mollie was
schools would admit a involved in all of it.

woman. Her goal was to
Dr. Mollie was one of the first women granted
practice medicine
alongside her husband membership in the American Medical Association
Frank. She left him and was very active in the Montana Medical Asso-
ciation. She worked with legislators in Helena to
when she realized that
get the vote for women. Dr. Moore was instrumen-
he would never recognize her as his equal in the medi-
cal profession. tal in changing attitudes toward and the treatment
of tuberculosis in Montana. As a result of her work
When she was hired by the Golden Leaf Mining Com- in public health issues, she was appointed chairman
pany in Montana as their camp doctor, Dr. Mollie be- of the Helena Board of Health. And this is only
came one of the first women in the country to have her part of the fascinating story of her life told by Mari
own medical practice. She was only 33 years old and Grana, award winning author of several other non-
she was determined to succeed. She eventually remar- fiction books set in New Mexico and Utah.
ried, had daughter Dorothy ten years later, and
(Continued on page 14)
Page 11