Dr. May Owen

Dr. May Owen was a pioneer for women in the field of medicine. She was born Lillie May Owen on May 3, 1891 to Andrew Jackson Owen (1849 – 1931) and Lillie Falkenhagen Owen (1857 – 1901) in Falls County, Texas. She was one of at least seven children of the couple to live to adulthood. The Owen siblings ranged in dates of birth from 1875 to 1898. Her mother Lillie died when May was nine years old. Her cause of death is not stated. The family story is that May worked hard on the farm even as a youngster. In this family, as with some farm families at that time out of necessity, work was valued more than education. However, in some interviews, she mentions that her father was not supportive of her educational pursuits. After her mother’s death, she was allowed to attend school in Falls County but only through the seventh grade. She then moved to Fort Worth to live with an older brother where she attended and completed high school in 1913 and earned an undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University in 1917.

After graduating from college, she began to work as a pathologist for Terrell’s Laboratories in Fort Worth, the owner of which was Dr. Truman Conner Terrell (1891 – 1971). Dr. Terrell, like Dr. Owen, had also come from a small town (Ranger, Texas). He had gone to medical school in Texas and Pennsylvania and was drawn to the field of pathology. He worked for a while as a pathologist at what became Harris Hospital in Fort Worth and along the way had established Terrell’s Laboratories. Dr. Terrell became a mentor for Dr. Owen and helped her enter medical school and finance her medical studies. Dr. Owen is said to be the first female to enter Louisville Medical College in Kentucky. There she earned her medical degree after which she did further studies at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and Bellevue Hospital in New York. Like Dr. Terrell, she was also interested in the field of pathology. She was associated with Terrell’s Laboratories throughout her entire career, except for leaves of absence for further studies.

Dr. Owen’s career included many accomplishments and many “firsts.” As noted above, she was the first female to enter Louisville Medical College. Dr. Owen was the first woman to serve as President of the Texas Society of Pathologists. She was also the first woman to be elected (in 1947) to the office of President of the Tarrant County Medical Association. In the Tarrant County Medical Association vote, an article years later said that there was one dissenting vote, which was her own. Then in 1960 she became the first woman to serve as President of the Texas Medical Association. Dr. Owen was also the first female to receive the Distinguished Service Award of the Texas Medical Association.

She had an inquisitive mind. While working as a pathologist in the early 1930s, she researched the possible negative effect arising from the longstanding practice of using talcum powder as a dry lubricant to assist medical personnel in putting on their medical gloves. In a biographical article on the website of the Tarrant County Medical Society, the writer relates that Dr. Owen was asked by a fellow Fort Worth physician to look into the case of a nineteen year old patient who was troubled by fibrous membranes and tumorous nodules in her abdomen. The patient had been operated on for an appendectomy some two years prior. After researching this and other cases, Dr. Owen discovered that some of the ingredients in this commonly used powder were not able to be absorbed by the human body. Once they found their way into patients’ wounds, the chemicals were treated by the body as a foreign substance. Complications from this could include peritonitis and could also affect scar tissue, among others. Dr. Owen gave a speech at a meeting of the Texas Medical Association in May, 1936 where she read her paper “Peritoneal Response to Glove Powder.” This discovery led the medical profession to change the composition of powder used with medical gloves.

Dr. Owen also is credited for a finding in the veterinary field. A veterinarian from the Fort Worth Stockyards had approached her about a mysterious condition that was causing the death of local sheep. She looked into it and came to the conclusion that the practice of feeding sheep molasses cake to help them gain weight was also contributing to some of them contracting diabetes.

She was known for her strong work ethic. In an undated article written by Blair Justice of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the writer gives some background about her work habits around the time Dr. Owen was set to receive the Texas Society of Pathologists’ George T. Caldwell Award. The writer relates that after forty years in the medical profession she still began her day at 6:00 AM, taking a short break for breakfast and lunch and usually working into the night. Dr. Owen resided in an apartment at the old Hotel Texas, 815 Main Street. She lived there for at least about forty years.

Dr. Owen was also known for her benevolence and humanitarianism. Soon after she was elected as President of the Texas Medical Association, she helped to create a Physician’s Benevolent Fund to assist needy doctors. She is said to have personally provided financial assistance to dozens of medical students. The May Owen, MD, Outreach Program is a grant program of the Texas Medical Association to “provide funding to bring female physician-oriented programs and activities to small and mid-sized county medical societies.” The May Owen Irrevocable Trust, administered by the Texas Medical Association, is a charitable organization formed in 1974. Its purpose is to “loan money to qualified medical students who establish financial need.” Per its last published tax form, it had assets of over $4,000,000 including just under $1,000,000 of outstanding loans receivable. Dr. Owen was instrumental in helping to provide the first 20,000 volumes for the library of Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center when it opened in 1973.

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