Dr. Aldora Tyler spent almost her entire life in Clinton, Illinois. Born on April 20, 1862, she became a member of the Delta Chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta in 1881. At that time, the Delta Chapter was located at Illinois Wesleyan University. Kappa Alpha Theta transferred the charter to the University of Illinois in 1895.
The daughter of a doctor, Tyler entered the Woman’s Medical College of Chicago (also known as the Northwestern Woman’s Medical School). She served as president of her medical school class. After graduation, she interned at the Woman’s Hospital in Chicago.
“Dr. Dora,” as she was known, practiced with her father, Dr. J.H. Tyler.
Clinton Register, July 27, 1888
The May 29, 1891 Clinton Public newspaper reprinted this tidbit from the St. Louis Chronicle, “Mayor Magill, of Clinton, Ill., appointed the only woman physician in that town, Dr. Aldora Tyler, President of the City Board of Health. He must adore Aldora.”
Tyler was active in county and state medical societies and was for many years the only woman physician in DeWitt county. In 1894 she did post-graduate work in New York City. A few years later she studied for a time in Chicago.
Clinton Register, July 12, 1889
On December 5, 1895, she and seven other Clinton women founded P.E.O.’s second chapter in Illinois – Chapter B, Clinton. One of the first things the chapter did was to establish a library in Clinton. She served as president of the P.E.O. chapter in 1901-02 and 1904-07.
A book on DeWitt residents published in 1901 describes her thusly:
She has a large consulting practicing and is the family physician in many a household. Deep and earnest is her interest in her profession, arising from a love of scientific research and from a sympathetic nature, without which the physician is never truly a success. Her skill in general medicine is marked and she devotes special attention to the diseases of women and children. In social circles Dr. Tyler is also widely and favorably known. She has many warm friends throughout the county, gained outside of professional life and her broad mind and interesting conversation render her a favorite in those gatherings where intellect and true worth are received as passports.
In March of 1900 she visited one of her medical school friends Dr. Naomi Pierce Clinton. An obituary published a few weeks later told of Clinton’s death from an recent illness. Perhaps that illness was the reason for her medical school classmate’s visit.
Tyler practiced medicine for more than 50 years. Medical society, P.E.O. and other civic organizations helped round out her busy days as a small town physician. She died on June 7, 1941, after suffering a stroke.
The home in Clinton in which Tyler died.
I regret I was unable to find a picture of “Dr. Dora.”
