Chapter One... IN THE BEGINNING

At the Fresno County Medical Society meeting in December, 1935, the guest speaker was female. The CMA AuxiliaryÕs state membership chairman traveled from Oakland to speak to the members and their wives about the need for, and value of, medical society auxiliaries which were organized throughout California and the nation.-
The doctors adjourned for their business meeting, and the ladies gathered to study the possibility of beginning a local auxiliary. Thanks to the leadership of this group: Mrs. Guy Manson (shown above left, and at right with her granddaughter), Mrs. C.M. Vanderburgh, Mrs. A.E. Anderson, Mrs. Clinton Collins and Mrs. Walter Wiese, the seventeenth medical auxiliary in California was founded on January 7, 1936, with Mrs. Manson serving as our first president.
On February 4, 1936, fifty seven women signed a charter membership roll. It was their custom to meet on the same night as the Medical Society (very few wives had their own cars). Following their meetings, the groups would join for refreshments and a social gathering.
One of the main projects of the Auxiliary's first year was to acquaint the community with the signs and symtoms of specific diseases. This was accomplished by inviting the public to informational meetings and by placing subscriptions of the magazine Hygeia in barber and beauty shops, the county library, outlying county schools and the Y.W.C.A. The money needed for this program came from contributions and proceeds from a card party.
Members were also active in the field of legislation for the control of venereal disease. V.D. at that time had a mortality rate one hundred times that of polio, and caused three times more deaths than auto accidents.
Our second president, Mrs. A.E Anderson, selected cancer as the educational objective for the year. Bridge parties and an auction raised increased funds for more magazine subscriptions.
Mrs. Chester Vanderburgh, third president, encouraged members to fill Christmas stockings for the Indian patients at the tuberculous hospital in Auberry. Heart disease was the educational topic for the year.By 1939-40 our membership reached ninety eight under the leadership of Mrs. Kenneth Staniford. Discussions of the migrant problem, and narcotics and their control were two of the topics presented.
The new decade, 1940, saw Mrs. Otto Diederich (shown at left), and Mrs. A.E Anderson as our state auxiliary president. As the clouds of war darkened over Europe, such topics as ?Public Health? and ?National Defense? were presented. A box supper was held to benefit the Medical Benevolence Fund in May 1941 and Mrs. J.M. Walker was installed as President.

Do you have an FMMSA anecdote to share with our members? If so, send it to fmmsa.net.