Clara Gathright Cook: Pioneer Physician and Educator (1882–1970)
Published: February 19, 2025
Updated: February 19, 2025
Clara Gathright Cook, physician and educator, was born on February 19, 1882, in Bloomfield, Mississippi. She was the daughter of James Edward Cook and Augusta Ann (Rosser) Cook. Genealogy records indicate that she had at least two brothers and two sisters—one sister, Bertha, was her twin. She was also reportedly a descendant of Thomas Gathright, first president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). By the time of the 1900 census the Cook family was living in Hearne, Texas, in Robertson County, where Clara was listed as a student. By 1906 she had moved, presumably with her parents, to Austin, where she worked as a teacher. The 1909 city directory listed her as a teacher at the Fulmore school, and her father was a teacher at the Kelley school. Her twin sister, Bertha, was also listed as an educator.
In 1911 Clara Cook was a medical student at the Medical Department of the University of Texas (now University of Texas Medical Branch) in Galveston. She graduated with her medical degree on May 30, 1914, and received her state license on June 25, 1914. Biographical anthologies indicate that she served a residency at Memorial Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts. She also served at New England Hospital in Boston and attended clinics at Children’s Hospital at Harvard Medical College. In 1915 Cook was living in San Antonio and applied for membership to the Bexar County Medical Society. On her application she stated that she had established an office in the Gibbs Building downtown and was limiting her practice to the treatment of women and children. She was elected to membership into the society on December 23, 1915.
During World War I, Cook was one of many Bexar County Medical Society members to pause her medical practice to do service overseas for the war effort. By late February 1918 she received her passport and soon traveled to France where she was attached to the American Woman’s Hospitals Associations within the Red Cross. In this capacity, she served as a physician for refugee children in France. She served until December 1918 and then returned to San Antonio, where she resumed her medical practice in the Gibbs Building. She also served on the pediatric staff of the new Robert B. Green Hospital and held this position until 1935. By 1920 Cook was the assistant to the “City Physician” in the Alamo City.
Clara Cook was active in civic affairs. She was a charter member of the San Antonio Women’s Overseas Service League and was a member of the San Antonio Business and Professional Women’s Club, and San Antonio Zonta Club. She belonged to the San Antonio Woman’s Club as well as the Equal Franchise Society. Her medical career included positions on staff at Nix Hospital, Santa Rosa Hospital, St. Benedict’s Hospital, and the Baptist Hospital in San Antonio. She also operated a children’s clinic at the local Wesley House (see SETTLEMENT HOUSES), and, since 1919, was physician for the Protestant Children’s Home.
Cook was a member of the Texas Medical Association, American Medical Association, Southern Medical Association, and American Woman’s Medical Association. She was an assistant editor of Medical Annuals. In 1957 she was honored as “Medical Woman of the Year” by the Alamo Chapter of the American Woman’s Medical Association. She was a Methodist and enjoyed hobbies of tennis, swimming, and motoring. She never married. Clara Gathright Cook died in San Antonio on December 1, 1970. She was buried in Mission Burial Park South in that city.
Bibliography:
Bexar County Medical Society, Medical Association Application: Clara G. Cook, MD, 1915, University of North Texas Libraries, Portal to Texas History, crediting University of Texas Health Science Center Libraries (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth586619/). Accessed February 9, 2025. “Dr Clara Gathright Cook,” Find A Grave Memorial (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/158573016/clara_gathright-cook), accessed February 9, 2025. Marin B. Fenwick, Who’s Who Among the Women of San Antonio and Southwest Texas (San Antonio: 1917). San Antonio Express, November 16, 1957; December 3, 1970. San Antonio Light, February 24, 1918; March 28, 1918; April 21, 1918. The Standard Blue Book, Texas Edition (San Antonio: A. J. Peeler & Co., 1920).
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The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this entry.
Laurie E. Jasinski, “Cook, Clara Gathright,” Handbook of Texas Online, accessed March 09, 2026, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/cook-clara-gathright.
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- February 19, 2025
- February 19, 2025
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