Myra Smith Kearse
{{Infobox person
| name = Myra Smith Kearse
| image = MyraLyleSmith1917.png
| alt = A young African-American woman, in an oval frame.
| caption = Myra Lyle Smith, from the 1917 yearbook of Howard Academy.
| other_names =
| birth_name = Myra Lyle Smith
| birth_date = May 18, 1899
| birth_place = Lynchburg, Virginia
| death_date = {{death-date and age|February 14, 1982|May 18, 1899}}
| death_place = Vauxhall, New Jersey
| occupation =
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| children = Amalya Lyle Kearse
| parents = T. Parker Smith
| relatives =
}}
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, the daughter of T. Parker Smith and Clara Alexander Smith. Her father was an educator, and founded a business college in Richmond. Her mother was also an educator.{{cite news | url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/16497803/winston-salem-journal/ | title=Clipped from Winston-Salem Journal | newspaper=Winston-Salem Journal | date=12 October 1911 | page=7 }}
She graduated from Howard Academy in 1917,[https://dh.howard.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1097&context=bison_yearbooks Crescat Scientia] (Howard Academy Yearbook, 1917). earned a bachelor's degree at Howard University in 1922,[https://dh.howard.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1104&context=bison_yearbooks The Morgue] (Howard University College of Medicine yearbook, 1925): 68. and was the only woman in the 1925 graduating class{{Cite news|date=1925-06-06|title=Love is Urged as Life Guide for Graduates at Howard U.|pages=26|work=Evening Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/45143443/love-is-urged-as-life-guide-for/|access-date=2020-06-13|via=Newspapers.com}} of the Howard University College of Medicine.{{Cite news|last=Hunter-Gault|first=Charlayne|date=1977-11-16|title=Black Women M.D.'s: Spirit and Endurance|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/16/archives/black-women-mds-spirit-and-endurance-black-women-doctors.html|access-date=2020-06-13|issn=0362-4331}} She was a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.{{Cite web|title=Kearse, Myra Smith|url=http://akapioneers.aka1908.com/index.php/component/mtree/vocations/health-1/medical/2357-kearse-myra-smith|access-date=2020-06-13|website=AKA's Pioneering Sorors Open Doors|language=en-GB}}
Career
Kearse was the first African American woman physician in Union County, New Jersey when she began to practice there in 1938. She joined the staff of a Newark hospital during World War II. She held a patent on a "pocket calendar device with punch means" for tracking one's menstrual cycle.Kearse, Myra Smith. [https://patents.google.com/patent/US2868293A/en "Pocket Calendar Device with Punch Means"] U.S. Patent application filed May 10, 1956; patent number US2868293A, granted January 13, 1959. She retired from medical practice in 1966.
In 1964,{{Cite news|date=1965-02-13|title=Negro-History Group Adopted|pages=3|work=The Record|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53348270/negro-history-group-adopted/|access-date=2020-06-13|via=Newspapers.com}} 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.{{Cite news|date=1975-02-20|title=Afro-American Culture: Historical Meeting Topic|pages=15|work=The Montclair Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53347866/afro-american-culture-historical/|access-date=2020-06-13|via=Newspapers.com}} She served on the executive committee of the Union County Anti-Poverty Council,{{Cite news|date=1966-04-29|title=Poverty War Aide Sought|pages=9|work=The Courier-News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53348028/poverty-war-aide-sought/|access-date=2020-06-13|via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news|date=1967-07-10|title=City Lawyers to Serve on Poverty Unit|pages=7|work=The Courier-News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53348181/city-lawyers-to-serve-on-poverty-unit/|access-date=2020-06-13|via=Newspapers.com}} until she retired from the council in 1970.{{Cite news|date=1970-04-10|title=Dinner Scheduled|pages=11|work=The Courier-News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53348359/dinner-scheduled/|access-date=2020-06-13|via=Newspapers.com}} She was a founding member of the county's College Women's Club.{{Cite book|last=Washington|first=Ethel M.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VR5wpiGiFUIC&pg=PA53|title=Union County Black Americans|date=2004|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-3683-5|pages=53|language=en}}
Personal life
Myra Lyle Smith married Robert Freeman Kearse, postmaster of Vauxhall, New Jersey.{{Cite news|date=August 30, 1941|title=He's Postmaster|page=12|work=The Afro American|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4OpfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=QgMGAAAAIBAJ&pg=929%2C341714|access-date=June 12, 2020|via=Google News}} They had a son Robert A. Kearse, and a daughter Amalya Lyle Kearse, who became a federal judge.{{Cite book|last=United States Congress Senate Committee on the Judiciary|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1kG-Kp9ldzsC&pg=PA124|title=Selection and Confirmation of Federal Judges: Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-sixth Congress, First Session ....|date=1980|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=124|language=en}} Her god-daughter, Gene-Ann Polk Horne, was a noted pediatrician at Harlem Hospital for many years.{{Cite web|last=Savage|first=Lauren|date=Summer 2015|title=A Doctor's Living Legacy|url=https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/doctors-living-legacy|access-date=2020-06-13|website=Columbia Magazine|language=en}} The Myra Smith Kearse Community Center in Union County, and a scholarship fund, were named in her honor.{{Cite news|date=1970-08-24|title=Union Students Offered Aid|pages=6|work=The Courier-News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/53336259/union-students-offered-aid/|access-date=2020-06-13}} She died in 1982, aged 82, from a heart attack at her home in the Vauxhall section of Union Township, Union County, New Jersey.{{Cite book|last=The Women's Project of New Jersey Inc|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-6WCBQPZdoC&pg=PA336|title=Past and Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women|date=1997-05-01|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-0418-1|pages=222, 336|language=en}}{{Cite news|date=1982-02-16|title=Obituary for Myra L. KEARSE|pages=20|work=The Courier-News|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/49200650/obituary-for-myra-l-kearse/|access-date=2020-06-13|via=Newspapers.com}}
References
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Category:Howard University College of Medicine alumni
Category:20th-century African-American physicians
Category:20th-century American physicians
Category:People from Union Township, Union County, New Jersey