Alumni Anecdotes

These excerpts from the writings of Dr. Howard Andersen of Rochester, Minn., were published in "Mayo Clinic Association, 1915-1992: An Abridged History with Anecdotes."

Dr. William J. Mayo

Dr. Will was president of the American Medical Association in 1906. His presidential address on "The Medical Profession and the Issues Which Confront It" mentioned that the public was educated in medical problems chiefly by "the advertisements of patent vendors and voluble charlatans." They thought it was the duty of physicians to enlighten the people.

Sometime after that he noted a large display of patent medicines in a window of Weber and Heintz pharmacy (later Weber and Judd). Dr. Will asked Harry Harwick to have Harry Heintz remove the display. Mr. Heintz refused because more than 50 percent of his business was in patent medicines. When this was reported, Dr. Will advised Mr. Harwick to buy the store, which he did. Later the Mayo Clinic sold the pharmacy, and it became "Weber and Judd." The pharmacy became known as "the store that urine built" because patients were directed to buy the containers for their urine samples for analysis.

Dr. Henry S. Plummer

Dr. Plummer was considered to be the best clinician of his time and was also very interested in medical education. He loved to teach by example and commonly called fellows to see patients with interesting or unusual problems. He had a standing invitation for fellows and young staff members to visit him on Sunday nights for a bean feed and informal medical discussions.

This continued after he and Daisy Berkman were married, though there was a slightly different format. Wives and other young women, many of whom were daughters of Mayo staff physicians, also were invited. So many friendships made at the Sunday bean feeds ended in marriages that Daisy Plummer later stated that their home became a matrimonial bureau.

Dr. Margaret F. "Margo" Longo

Dr. Margaret Longo was the first woman president of the Mayo Alumni Association. She earned the respect of colleagues and patients. "I never had a better resident during my years at Mayo... She was enthusiastic, loved to work, and was kind, thoughtful and compassionate. The patients loved her." And so did all of her associates -- doctors, nurses, anesthetists, friends and anyone who knew her.

The above quote is from Dr. O. T. (Jim) Clagett, who usually was not generous with his accolades. Dr. Longo was the third woman surgical fellow, finishing in 1967. Dr. Longo established a surgical practice in Lafayette, La. She served as president of The Priestley Society (organization of ex-surgical residents of Mayo) 1982 to 1983 and later was elected to the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons. The Mayo Alumni Association was proud to have her serve as its first woman president from 1987 to 1989.

Dr. Edward C. Kendall

Dr. Edward Kendall came to Mayo Clinic as a research chemist in 1914 to work on the thyroid gland. In 1915, he isolated thyroxin, and this had great significance to the medical world plus millions of patients with various thyroid problems. Later he began working on the adrenal gland and obtained huge boxes containing thousands of these glands from the stockyards of Chicago. He finally isolated Compound E or cortisone from the extracts of the glands. Dr. Philip Hench, who had experienced the influence of adrenal secretions in his patients with rheumatoid arthritis, gave cortisone to his patients with dramatic results. They reported this in 1949 and subsequently received the Nobel Prize for medicine.

Dr. Vernon Mattox, who worked in Dr. Kendall's laboratory, at one point became disillusioned in his work with Dr. Kendall and wanted to leave for another laboratory to work on phosphatase determinations. Dr. Kendall replied, "That is okay if you want to grow blackberry bushes, but I want to grow oak trees." He had his sights set and "grew an oak tree" in the form of cortisone. Dr. Mattox remained in Dr. Kendall's laboratory and was the first to synthesize cortisone.