Background
Bertha Elizabeth Reynolds was born in Thiensville, Wisconsin, in 1868. Reynolds grew up in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, on her family"s farm.
Bertha Elizabeth Reynolds was born in Thiensville, Wisconsin, in 1868. Reynolds grew up in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, on her family"s farm.
In 1898, thirty-year-old Reynolds nevertheless enrolled in the Woman"s Hospital Medical College of Chicago. She completed her Doctor of Medicine in 1901.
Her parents, John and Margaret Reynolds, had migrated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, from Quebec, Canada, three years earlier. She matriculated at the University of Nebraska, where she was also discouraged from pursuing the Doctor of Medicine.
Upon graduation she returned to Wisconsin, joining the Lone Rock, Wisconsin (Richland County, Wisconsin) practice of a brother, Doctor Nelson Reynolds (1872-1910). When Nelson Reynolds relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Doctor Bertha Reynolds became the area"s only physician, her practice predating by about twenty years the better-known work of another pioneering Wisconsin physician, Doctor Kate Pelham Newcomb).
A 1923 incident in which Reynolds, unable to reach patients due to Spring flooding, drafted then-unknown aviator Charles Lindbergh to transport her to patients across the Wisconsin River, has been well remembered by residents.
Doctor Reynolds would sometimes take elderly patients into her own home until they were well enough to care for themselves. In the 1930s she also served on the Richland County Children"s Board.
Reynolds attempted to retire in 1940, moving to Avoca, Wisconsin, but when that town"s only physician was called to service in World World War II, she returned to work, serving Avoca patients until her second retirement in 1953. She died October 31, 1961, at the age of 93, and is buried in the Little Brown Church cemetery in Bear Valley.
The town of Lone Rock dedicated a park to her memory.
A street in Lone Rock has been named for her as well. Her medical apparatus, including her bag and scalpels, were donated to the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.