|
|
Evelyn
Ridenhour Callas, M.D.
By Nancy Nakai
Dr. Evelyn R. Callas has been described as a "renaissance woman", a particularly telling
comment -
for it is
a rarely-used description
for a female, let alone a physician.
Evelyn Ridenhour was born
on November 12, 1929, the first child (and only daughter) of 38-year old
Robert Ridenhour and 27-year
old Beatrice Barrangon Ridehour. Evelyn
was born on the ranch of the famous author. Jack London, located in Glen Ellen, in Sonoma County, California. Evelyn's grandmother
was a close friend of the London family, and the expectant
couple had been invited to
the London ranch to await the birth.
The Ridenhours had a small farm
near Guerneville, California, on the Russian River.
Evelyn began
her education
at a one-room schoolhouse,
located on
land that her great-grandfather donated for the school.
Her father
served on
the school board
and, ultimately, her
mother was
the teacher.
At the one-room schoolhouse, and later in West Marin,
Evelyn was one of sixteen
students, having one teacher
serve as instructor for grades one through eight.
While Dr. Callas smiles and claims
it "was hard to get
a baseball team going",
the education she received
was like having a private teacher in a
large, extended family, with
individual attention for every
student. Evelyn then moved on to
Analy High School in Sebastopol, another small school of just one hundred
students per class.
After graduation, Evelyn was
expected to attend college nearby, so she enrolled in Santa Rosa
Junior College. To this
day she lauds the school and
the "JC" system, appreciating its broad- based
curriculum, affordable
tuition and
"great teachers!".
Deciding on a medical career while at Santa Rosa, Evelyn's pre-med studies required
an extra year to
complete lower-division work; the
small size
of the
college offered some
necessary courses only
in the fall semester.
Meanwhile the budding
renaissance woman
supplemented her
major with
a myriad
of courses. At the time, she
did not comprehend the full-meaning of the scope
of medical training it would take to be a doctor.
She states, "Lack of forethought got me a long
way. I knew nothing
about physicians, had hardly
ever been to a hospital and had no idea of the cost of medical
school!" After finishing her course of study at
Santa Rosa Junior College, Evelyn transferred to the University of Southern
California as
a junior.
Graduating cum laude from
USC, Evelyn entered medical school, one of four female medical students.
It was in anatomy class, on the
first day of medical school, that
she met the man she would eventually marry.
James Callas
and Evelyn Ridenhour were
married within a year. Their
first child,
Richard, was
born just eleven days after
graduation. The birth of her daughter, Cathrin,
would occur during her first
year of
medical residency in
pediatrics at Harbor General Hospital in Torrance, California.
Another grand event happened during this time.
Evelyn's mother, having been
denied a
college education when she
was younger, graduated from
San Francisco
State University. Beatrice Ridenhour was an honored graduate,
finishing as a summa cum laude and class valedictorian at the age of fifty-seven. Distinction
obviously runs in the family!
Upon completing her internship and residency, Evelyn took a job as staff pediatrician
at the
Southern California
Permanente Medical Group
("Kaiser"). She
greatly enjoyed
the kind
of medical practice that Kaiser presented, with
no economic barrier between physician
and patient. When a pediatrics position later opened up at Kaiser
in San Rafael in
1959, she and her family
"...were thrilled to get
north of the Golden
Gate Bridge once again!" And, there they stayed.
Along with her husband. Doctor Callas is
a strong advocate of parent
and patient
education. To
this end - and long before
patient education was
"in vogue"
and educational
films were readily available - she and her husband produced their own
films. Trained as an Air Force
cinematographer, her husband directed the films, many staged
in their
own home. Evelyn became a
self-taught film editor. Soon the
couple needed a printing company to produce the
titles as provide written support material.
A "firm believer in libraries",
a book on
printing was found and they
started their own company (a press). This
avocation took up much of their spare time
for many years. They produced six films,
ranging from toilet training
toddlers to preventing accidents in the home.
There were other medically
related extracurricular
activities. Evelyn
was instrumental
in providing a significant
section of legislation that enabled
California physicians
to photograph previously-prohibited
pictures documenting
bruises and
other signs of child abuse. Modestly,
she states that she simply saw a need and did something
about it. Though she
feels her contribution was
small, others know that its impact was enormous.
This action, along
with all her endeavors is a prime example of a quiet
woman who
spoke and
was heard.
She is an advocate of biological education, of the
candid study of reproduction, of what
causes diseases, and of understanding the biology of life. She believes that all of this must be taught in today's
schools. Evelyn Callas also bakes, makes dollhouse
furniture and train sets. She can answer
questions on plumbing, electricity, brick laying and needlepoint.
This renaissance woman also was
active with Marin's Easter Seals
Society for many years,
serving as secretary of its Board of Director.
A recent study has shown that women
who "juggle"
career and family by choice
are the happiest in every way. Dr.
Callas is proof of that theory. She
credits her ability to carry the
load of career and family to the
help of her mother-in-law, who lived with the Callas family and managed the
household. "Those of us with live-in grandmothers
are the luckiest," she claims. Today,
Evelyn Callas does the caring for her 103 year old mother-in-law.
The elder
care/child care
issues of
the present and
next generation therefore hit home for
Dr. Callas
in an extremely poignant
way. She believes strongly
that the United States must adopt a "Europeanized social attitude"
toward the family,
as it relates to the
family, parental
leave, child care and other
similar issues.
Recently retired, Evelyn Callas has
the satisfaction of knowing that
she has
served not
only two,
but three generations of families in Marin County, delivering pediatric
care to thousands of local children. Callas' reputation as a superb diagnostician helped her to become the
assistant chief of pediatrics
in 1976.
In 1978, she became the Chief of
Pediatrics, which she deems her proudest accomplishment, for she was the first
woman in Northern California Kaiser
to hold that position. There have
been several women in that position since, showing Callas as a trailblazer for
those that came after her.
But Dr. Callas, a
modest woman, seems quick to downplay her own accomplishments in favor of
her peers as a whole. Upon
learning of her selection to the
Marin Women's Hall of Fame, she accepted in a representative capacity
"for the extraordinary number
of accomplishments and contributions of
pediatricians in this county. "
Evelyn Callas now spends some of her "retirement"
hours teaching outpatient pediatrics
at University
of California
at San Francisco Medical
School (UCSF). She
notes with satisfaction that
over half of the students are female. She
proudly adds that these women are not putting off having children, but are
juggling "bravely". Something
she knows a
lot about. She also
enjoys spending time with her daughter (an
engineer) and
her son (a wildlife
biologist). As she
continues to serve as a
consummate role model for all of us, she
doesn't tout her accomplishments;
she inspires, quietly demonstrating
what a
full life is all about •
Written
1990 |
