Today an Alpha Phi doctor makes an appearance. Her name was Annie Marie Tremaine. She became a member of the Delta Chapter of Alpha Phi in 1895. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and her thesis was titled, “A Study of the Verbs of Shakespeare.”
She died on March 25, 1912, after being ill for five years. There was a time when the GLO magazines published long tributes to deceased members. I find them fascinating. There are some unanswered questions in Dr. Tremaine’s memorial, but the last three sentences, especially, “she was always a woman of force and learning without guile or pretense, a genial companion and an unfailing friend. The memory of her will endure to enrich the world” touched my heart.
This tribute appeared in the January 1913 Alpha Phi Quarterly:
Dr. Annie Marie Tremaine who passed from this consciousness March 25, 1912, after an illness of five years, was a staunch member of Delta chapter, Cornell 1895, and there will be those who will recall her appearance at the university as very unlike the portrait given herein for she was then very thin and pale wearing her hair cropped short. But whether one remembers her as a student at Fredonia Normal School, at Cornell University, as an Examiner in the Regent’s office of the University of the State of New York, or at the Woman’s Medical College of New York City, it must be said that she was always a serious student gifted with a mind that was both penetrating and balanced. The quality of her scholarship at the Medical College won for her a year’s appointment in the Surgical Hospital at Worcester, Mass. Through examination she obtained first place on the New York State Civil Service list. This led to her appointment as Woman Physician at Craig Colony for epileptics, the best position in the gift of the state for a woman at that time. This position she held for six years, not only with efficiency and with general acceptability but with modesty and helpfulness to all who came in contact with her.
In 1906, she resigned from Craig Colony in order to spend a year abroad in study in Vienna and London preparatory to entering upon private practice the ambition of all her years. During her stay in London her health become so impaired that she was never able again to return to the practice of her profession. Doctor Tremaine’s influence was always sane and independent and never exerted in obnoxious ways. She was a many sided woman and found time in the midst of exacting professional duties to be interested in many things. Some of these were allied to her work and some were diversions but she was always a woman of force and learning without guile or pretense, a genial companion and an unfailing friend. The memory of her will endure to enrich the world.
Craig Colony, Sonyea, NY, about 100 miles from Ithaca, NY where Cornell is located. Dr. Tremaine spent most of her working career at the Craig Colony.
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