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THE DOCTOR WORE PETTICOATS

by Chris Enss

by Sharon Schaaf This book is available at Elements Gift Store

In 1875, Dr. A. E. Regensburger addressed the California State Medical
Society. He said that, “If we ignore them and downplay their efforts
they will be forced to abandon the idea of being part of medicine.” His
negative attitude towards female physicians was shared by most men
miniature goats. That was fine with me,” she said with a giggle in her voice. Her face lit up as if she were 30 again. and many women of his time. As a result, if a woman wanted to be a
“Wayne had to get them out of his house since he couldn’t train them to use the litter box.” doctor, she could head out west to practice. Doctors were scarce, so her

chances of being accepted were better. The stories of twelve of these
“It didn’t stop there,” she said. Taking a sip of coffee, she continued. “People started dropping off different types of female pioneers are told in The Doctor Wore Petticoats: Women Physi-
animals and I thought, gee, kids in Vegas have nowhere to go. So I had to shake my piggy bank to build the zoo.” cians of the Old West.

Bonnie’s magnetic personality drew people to her including her husband-to-be. “I met my husband Al Levinson Bethenia Owens was the new doctor in Roseburg, Oregon. In 1872. As a joke, her fellow doctors invited her to an
because someone told him he should meet the dizzy blond running the bar in the desert.” A title autopsy on a man. Surprised that she showed up, the six male doctors tried verbal insults to get Bethenia to leave.
she wears proudly. “We were married for forty years before he passed away. We had She refused and asked why it was acceptable for a man to attend the autopsy of a female, but unacceptable for a
three children and in 1972 we broke ground to build Old Nevada. woman to attend the autopsy of a male. They had no answer. Not only did Bethenia remain at the autopsy, she
performed it. Soon after, she moved to Portland, Oregon where she practiced medicine until she retired at age 65.
I had two horses,” she said. “Then a man wanting to trade two horses for a car stopped at the In 1889, Susan La Flesche, the daughter of Chief Joseph of the Omaha Indian tribe, became the first Native
dealership run by my husband Al. Then I had four horses,” she said laughing. American woman doctor in the United States. She devoted her life to caring for members of her tribe in Nebraska.
She wrote to a friend in Philadelphia and described life in the west: “I can tell you one thing and that is a Western
Bonnie was and still is a spunky woman that is not afraid of hard work or learning woman has to know how to do everything that a man does besides her own work, for she has to be ready for any
a new trade. “Our first restaurant menu was homemade biscuits with fresh honey. I harvested the emergency that may occur when men are not around.”
honey myself. I built the fireplace and the tables,” she boasted, “I laid the floor. I learned how to saddle a
horse and trim their feet.” Bonnie, a self-taught woman, did all those things without the aid of Google. All of the women in Chris Enss’ book show spunk. Practicing in Colorado, Dr. Susan Johnson threatened a
“You can learn anything if you want to,” she said. “Just figure it out and do it.” drunken male patient with a scalpel when he dropped his pants in her examining room and made a lewd proposal.
As he left her office, she made him pay the $10 examination fee. Staging these types of embarrassing office calls

In the fenced nonprofit zoo, most of the animals freely walk around greeting the visitors.
“Sometimes I have to laugh,” she said. “When an animal like a deer or burro walks up to a child, Nellie Mattie MacKnight’s experiences at San Francisco’s Toland Hall Medical School required determination for
some children climb their father’s frame.” She leaned in close to me as if she was telling me a her to survive. In front of thirty-five of her male classmates, one of her first professors asked her, “Do you expect to
secret. “Many children have never been this close to a burro or deer,” she whispered. graduate in medicine or are you just playing around?” She emphatically replied, “I hope to graduate.” To herself she
said, “I will graduate, and that’s a promise.” When her time in medical school was complete, the dean persuaded
These days Bonnie visits her animals while pushing her walker over the rough grounds. The two wolves, Tkai, a red Nellie to pick a more suitable name to put on her diploma, labeling Nellie Mattie a “pet name.” Nellie honored her
tundra and white timber wolf mix and Little Foot, a timber wolf, crowd the door to their cage waiting to lick her face aunt by choosing the name Helen. (continued on page 14)
and receive the graham cracker treats from the bag hanging on Bonnie’s walker. The lynx cats, Simba and Nala pace
the cage waiting for Bonnie’s gentle caress. “I raised these cats in my house,” Bonnie said scratching Simba behind
his ear. “They needed something to climb on like this tree. They were climbing on my curtains.” Bonnie waves her
hand as if to say that a six pound lynx cat hanging on her curtains was amusing.

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