Personal Name: Demarious Cornell Badger, M.D.

Personal Dates: 1910-1990
Interviewed by: Jake Spidle, Ph.D.
Recorded Date: 1983

Call Number: FL 802
Oral History Title: Interview with Demarious Cornell Badger, M.D., and William Earl Badger, M.D.
Physical Description: 2 sound cassettes (110 min.) + 1 transcript (25 p.)

Biographical Note: Born in Copemish, Michigan, in 1910, Dr. Demarious Adeline Cornell Badger grew up assisting her father, the only physician in the northern Michigan sawmill communities near Traverse City, with his patients, though she swore she would never become a physician herself. She enrolled at the University of Michigan at the age of sixteen, hoping to be a pianist. When the stock market crashed in 1929, though, Dr. Badger began to think seriously about her need to earn a living and realized that her interest in biology had earned her the credit hours to be accepted into medical school. She enrolled in the University of Michigan Medical School in 1930, earning her M.D. in 1934. The day after graduation, she married fellow classmate Dr. William Earl Badger, who she met while a junior in college. She then did her internship and residency at University Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan, as did her husband. In 1937, after Dr. William Badger had been diagnosed with tuberculosis, the couple moved to Hobbs, New Mexico, and set up a private practice. For many years, Dr. Badger was the only female physician in Lea County. The Badgers practiced in Hobbs until their retirement in 1980, when they moved to Albuquerque. Dr. Badger died in 1990 at the age of 80.

Content: This joint interview with Drs. Demarious C. and William E. Badger summarizes their more than 40 years' practice of medicine in Hobbs, New Mexico. The interview contains information about their personal and professional backgrounds, including interesting information from Dr. Demarious Badger regarding discrimination against women in medical school; the difficult conditions in oil-town Hobbs; the nature and focuses of their medical practices; the special medical problems encountered in Hobbs; and much else. Among the subjects discussed at varying length are public health work in Lea County; referral practices and patterns from Hobbs; hospitals in Lea County; physicians of the county; the impact of World War II on medical care in their county; school board service and accomplishments in Hobbs (Dr. Demarious Badger); the advent of modern drugs; racial and gender attitudes and prejudices in Lea County; the battle against state medicine; and much else.

Location: Lea County
Occupation: Physician, Medical-Pediatrics Physician, Medical-Allergy and Immunology
Link to Library Catalog: http://hestia.unm.edu/search/a?SEARCH=badger+demarious 
Full text transcript: PDF  (5389k)