Every now and then a person comes along who is so strong-willed, smart and stern that they live life on their terms. Such a woman was Dr. Catherine A. Gilreath, who died last week at age 84.
Her brother, Knoxville attorney Sidney Gilreath, will speak at her service on Saturday, Feb. 18, at 10 a.m. at the Methodist church in Kodak.
We asked Sid on Tuesday what propelled him and his sister to professional success.
Knox TN Today: Your father was a mailman; there were seven kids in a small house in Sevier County. Yet you are a successful personal injury lawyer with a branch office in Memphis. And Catherine went to medical school at a time when few girls did that. She did an OB/GYN residency and operated a private practice in Knoxville until she retired in 1988 to concentrate on real estate investments and philanthropy.
Sidney Gilreath: Well, let’s start at the beginning. Our parents had two children, then a 10-year gap, then five more. A brother died, falling off a roof, and the older two were gone, so Catherine grew up as a girl with three brothers. She was so competitive. Whatever we did, she was right there. Whether it was playing ball or boxing. She hated being the last one picked. She was athletic and a great guard in high school. Could dribble better than a guy.
KTT: So, you and your twin were just one year older than Catherine?
SG: Yes, and she was always the underdog growing up.
KTT: So, when did she decide to attend medical school?
SG: She and I went to UT. I was going to be a lawyer. She was over there taking chemistry and physics – subjects I never wanted to take. She graduated and was accepted to UT Medical School in Memphis. Our dad was so proud of her. Every month he would drive to Memphis to take her two half-gallons of milk, some eggs and whatever was fresh there on the farm. It was a 12-hour drive each way. She graduated and came back to Knoxville for her residency at UT Medical Center. She was the first woman resident there.
KTT: What challenges did she face?
SG: She started a practice in Sevier County; for awhile was the only doctor delivering babies. Once we sat down for a family dinner and the phone rang. Somebody was having a baby and she had to go. She had no backup. She came to Knoxville, practiced for awhile with Dr. Anne Avery and then set up her own practice at Baptist Hospital. When managed care came in, she retired. That was 1988.
KTT: What about you? Have you retired?
SG: No. I’ll be 87 this year and come to work every day.
Personal note
Catherine Gilreath was my doctor and my friend. I met her when she spoke at UT – a no-nonsense advocate for women having information and making decisions about their healthcare. This was the 1960s and oral contraceptives had just hit the market. I drove to Sevierville every year for my checkup.
In the mid-1970s, I had this great idea – to start a women’s center (Women’s Services of Knoxville Inc.) with free counseling and employment services supported by selling ads on a radio station (WSKI) and in a magazine. Catherine agreed to write a free-to-me column about women’s health. It wasn’t the only reason we failed to launch, but I was startled when her first column came in with a headline “Wipe front to back.”
Yikes!
In the 1980s, I started running. Catherine was one of the folks who ran early at Tom Black Track. And yes, she was competitive. No one got ahead of her, even those who were 29-30 years younger. (I stopped going to Tom Black Track after the morning in ‘89 or ‘90 when a very pregnant Pat Summitt showed up and ran laps faster than I could.)
Over the past 30 years, I saw her at events like the Legacy Parks luncheon (she served on the board); and the Women’s Fund of East Tennessee (where she invited me for lunch and I thought she just wanted press coverage; so I arrived late and scruffy). She also was active in Habitat for Humanity, Sid said.
Must be something in the water in Sevier County, for every now and then the ridges turn out a woman who is strong-willed, smart and stern. One was Catherine A. Gilreath M.D.
Sandra Clark is editor/CEO of Knox TN Today Inc.