Gloeckner, Mary Louise Carpenter, 1904-1978

Born in Philadelphia, 26 August 1904, Mary Louise Carpenter
(Gloeckner) was one of three children of Kate Bickings Carpenter
and William Riegel Carpenter, M.D. Dr. Gloeckner's aunt, Mary
Bickings Thornton, M.D., was Professor of Anatomy between
1905 and 1956 at the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania
(WMC) and exerted a strong influence on her niece.
Louise attended Girls High School and Temple University, in
Philadelphia. She received her M.D. from the Woman's Medical
College of Pennsylvania on 6 June 1928. Shortly thereafter, she
married Frederick H. Gloeckner; they had three children over the
next several years. Dr. Gloeckner completed her Internship at
Lancaster General Hospital in 1929, and then began to practice
general medicine in nearby Conshohocken, Pennsylvania.
Louise Gloeckner was active in a variety of local, state, and
national medical organizations, including the Conshohocken
Civilian Defense Council--Medical Division, Secretary, 1941-1957;
the Montgomery County Medical Society, President, 1944; the
Pennsylvania Medical Society, Vice-President, 1951-1952; and the
American Medical Association (AMA), of which she was the first
woman Vice-President, 1969-1970.
Dr. Gloeckner was also a member of the Alumnae Association of the
Woman's Medical College; the American Academy of General
Practice; the Board of Directors of the Philadelphia Division of
the American Cancer Society (elected an Honorary Life Member);
the American Medical Women's Association; the Board of Review of
Blue Cross of Philadelphia; the College of Physicians of
Philadelphia; the Conshohocken Board of Health; the Health
Resources Advisory Committee of the United States Office of Civil
Defense Mobilization (OCDM); the Board of Directors of Montgomery
County Home Maker-Home Health Aide Service, Inc.; and the Board
of the Visiting Nurse Association of Conshohocken. She was also
active in the Plymouth Friends Meeting of the Religious Society
of Friends, and was a member of the Valley Forge Historical
Society.
Dr. Gloeckner received numerous honors and awards, including:
Commonwealth Citation, Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania,
1956; Woman of the Year, Conshohocken Business and Professional
Women's Club, 1969; Distinguished Daughter of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, 1971; and Outstanding Citizen's Award of the
Conshohocken Chamber of Commerce, 1973.
Dr. Gloeckner retired from practice and most of her
organizational activities in 1975. She died 4 November 1978.