Myra Smith Kearse (May 18, 1899 – February 14, 1982) was an American physician and community leader in New Jersey.

Early life

Myra Lyle Smith was born in

Lynchburg, Virginia Lynchburg is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. First settled in 1757 by ferry owner John Lynch (1740–1820), John Lynch, the city's populati ...

, the daughter of T. Parker Smith and Clara Alexander Smith. Her father was an educator, and founded a business college in Richmond. She graduated from Howard Academy in 1917, earned a bachelor's degree at Howard University in 1922, and was the only woman in the 1925 graduating class of the Howard University College of Medicine. She was a member of the

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

sorority.

Career

Kearse was the first African American woman physician in

Union County, New Jersey Union County is a county in the northern part of the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the county's population was 575,345, making it the seventh-most populous of New Jersey's 21 counties. Its county seat is Elizabeth.

when she began to practice there in 1938. She joined the staff of a Newark hospital during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She held a patent on a "pocket calendar device with punch means" for tracking one's

menstrual cycle The menstrual cycle is a series of natural changes in hormone production and the structures of the uterus and ovaries of the female reproductive system that make pregnancy possible. The ovarian cycle controls the production and release of eggs a ...

. She retired from medical practice in 1966. In 1964, Kearse and Vera Brantley McMillon began collecting and sharing oral histories of African-American life in New Jersey, to mark the state's tercentenary; their work culminated in the publication of ''Negroes of New Jersey, 1715-1967: A Bibliography''. She served on the executive committee of the Union County Anti-Poverty Council, until she retired from the council in 1970. She was a founding member of the county's College Women's Club.

Personal life

Myra Lyle Smith married Robert Freeman Kearse, postmaster of

Vauxhall, New Jersey Vauxhall is an unincorporated community located within Union Township in Union County, New Jersey, United States. Vauxhall borders Millburn, Maplewood and Springfield. The area is served as United States Postal Service ZIP Code 07088. As ...

. They had a son Robert A. Kearse, and a daughter

Amalya Lyle Kearse Amalya Lyle Kearse (born June 11, 1937)Goldstein, Tom. "Amalya Lyle Kearse; Woman in the News", ''The New York Times'', June 25, 1979. is a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and a worl ...

, who became a federal judge. Her god-daughter,

Gene-Ann Polk Horne Gene-Ann Polk Horne (October 3, 1926 – January 3, 2015), known professionally as Gene-Ann Polk, was an American physician and hospital administrator, director of pediatric ambulatory care at Harlem Hospital, and a professor of pediatrics at Colu ...

, was a noted pediatrician at Harlem Hospital for many years. The Myra Smith Kearse Community Center in Union County, and a scholarship fund, were named in her honor. She died in 1982, aged 82, from a heart attack at her home in the Vauxhall section of Union Township, Union County, New Jersey.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kearse, Myra Smith 1899 births 1982 deaths Howard University College of Medicine alumni African-American physicians People from Union Township, Union County, New Jersey Alpha Kappa Alpha members People from Lynchburg, Virginia 20th-century African-American people