Disosway, Lula M. (Lula Marjorie), 1897-1973

Lula Marjorie Disosway was born January 9, 1897 in New Bern, North Carolina to Reginald and Lula (Stanley) Disosway. Originally, she dreamed of becoming a missionary evangelist, but decided to become a doctor after reading Dr. David Livingstone’s memoir of Africa. Disosway graduated from the Woman's College of the University of North Carolina before taing pre-medical classes at Johns Hopkins University. She then entered the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1921. In 1925, she became the first woman intern at James Walker Hospital in Wilmington, North Carolina.

In 1926, at the encouragement of the National Episcopal Church, Dr. Disosway sailed to Shanghai, China where she was assigned to head a 150-bed hospital with only one other doctor to assist. This forced her to become proficient in several medical specialties, including surgery. After a brief return to North Carolina, Disosway went to Fort Yukon, Alaska, 13 miles above the Arctic Circle, and worked for eight years as the only doctor within 600 miles. In total, she spent 20 years as a medical missionary.

Eventually she returned to New Bern in 1948 to care for her ailing mother. Beginning in 1954, she became the Director of the Good Shepherd Hospital for Blacks in New Bern (1954-1967) and dedicated herself to work in the hospital’s adjunct clinic. Following her work there, she staffed the maternity clinic at Craven Memorial Hospital (1966-1973). Disosway died February 12, 1973.