Ms. Mary Ann Hamilton

Ms. Mary Ann Hamilton

Dr. Anna Beth Connell was Lufkin’s first female physician. “I’m grateful to the ladies who came to me with a proposal for a scholarship. I feel humbled by it. I hope it helps some deserving people in the future,” she said.
Dr. Connell is well familiar with the challenges facing a student who wants to continue his or her education, but lacks funds to do so, Born in Athens, Dr. Connell moved with her family to Ennis where a “lady osteopath” was a role model who she says inspired her to become a doctor.
She was about 6 years when she first felt the desire to carve out a career in medicine, and she worked steadily toward that goal. Her family moved to Lufkin in 1934, and she graduated from Lufkin High School in 1939. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and biology with a minor in English from Mary Hardin-Baylor, but then ran into a financial roadblock.
“I was accepted into medical school, but didn’t feel I could go,” she said. “I worked as a chemist at one of the oil companies for two years to save money for medical school.”
Armed with savings from her work as a chemist, she then attended and earned her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine. Women in medical school at that time were rare.
“Nine female students were in my freshman class (of about 70 students) in medical school,” she said. “Three finished in four years, three finished the following year and three didn’t finish.” "
“Patriotic duty called. I went into the service in 1949, " she said. “I served four years with the U.S. Navy at the naval air station in Coronado, California. I did mostly obstetrics and gynecology and delivered about 1,000 babies.”
Finished with her naval service, she entered into a six-month contract for a position in Los Angeles. By the time that length of time was up, she says she had decided she was “not a big city girl” and moved back to East Texas. She practiced for about 18 months in Corrigan before setting up her Lufkin office.
“I was in private practice from the summer of 1953 to the end of 1985,” she said. “Then I went to Lufkin State School, first as a staff physician and then as medical director. I retired in 1992 at age 71.”
It was not uncommon for Dr. Connell to have three generations of women to be her patients all at the same time. She limited her practice to women and teenage girls and delivered several thousand babies.
Early on, she learned that listening was one of the most important things she could do. Dr. Juan Martin, who practiced in Lufkin for many years, told her that if she would listen to her patients, they would often help her make a diagnosis.
She found that advice to be sound, both in making a diagnosis and, sometimes, as a form of treatment as well.
“Just listening is so important,” she said. “Writing a prescription was about the easiest thing a doctor could do, but listening took time. When people verbalize to someone who is sympathetic or understanding, they can solve their problems. Many times my patients got up and said, ‘I already feel better.’”
Another thing that Dr. Connell observed during her long career was the problems that an ill-advised marriage could produce. “I saw a lot of teenage girls who I felt were ill-prepared for marriage,” she said. “I think people should be a little more cautious in their choice of marriage mates an have something in common besides physical attraction.”
Despite being in the minority as a female physician, Dr. Connell said she was well accepted by her medical colleagues and by her patients: “I never tried to be male,” she said.
Her career was long and rewarding, and weathered a number of changes, one of which was prepared childbirth classes and daddies in the delivery rooms. “I thought I was going to dread Lamaze, but I found it was a great blessing for me to see the joy those fathers had holding their newborn babies,” she said.
Some of the other changes that have come along, in the current climate of restrictions, are ones that she is glad not to have to face.
“I’m glad I practiced when I did,” she said, “so that there was not as much governmental encroachment as there is now…The whole face of medicine is changing. So many technological advances are being made, and they are wonderful. But they can’t replace compassion and common sense.”
Dr. Connell traveled a great deal, and saw much of the world, including most of the European countries, Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti and Russia, as well as thoroughly traversing the United States.
Dr. Connell passed away in April of 2016.

Impact

The Anna Beth Connell, M.D. Scholarship benefits a female student classified as a junior or senior, and entering the medical field. The student must have and maintain a minimum 3.5 GPA. Preference goes to a student from the East Texas area.

Scholarships