Doc Susie: A Woman Alone in the Rockies

A woman alone in the Rockies.

With a cow bell, a Bible, a gun, and a medical bag.

Such was Dr. Susan Anderson, affectionately known as Doc Susie, the doctor of Grand County during the first half of the twentieth century. Much has been written about Anderson, a pioneer not only in the West but as a woman in the medical profession. Dr. Anderson successfully completed a medical degree at the University of Michigan, then found herself struggling to make a living in the great state of Colorado which she had come to call home. By 1907, she found herself battling “the consumption,” as did many residents, and so took herself to the high mountain town of Fraser, where she rested and recovered. By 1909, she was well enough to be able to open a practice in Fraser, and continued to care for people of the community until her retirement at 88 years of age. Her career took her from the first use of a microscope in medicine, the introduction of X-rays, and on through the development of vaccines, through 2 World Wars, the Spanish flu epidemic and countless other epidemics, from delivering babies to setting bones and stitching gaping wounds for loggers, soldiers, ranch hands, children, and horses.

Kathy Naples is a career librarian and researcher, who has come to be very interested in the lives of women and children in the West. From wives and mothers to professionals, each had reasons for enduring and enjoying the difficult lives they led. Kathy is currently the Library/Media Director for East Grand School District, in Granby, Colorado. She is descended from a family of Colorado pioneers.

 

Presented by the Rifle Heritage Center.

 

 

 

Saturday, March 18
1:00 pm

LIBRARY: