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Elizabeth “Ducky” McLean Kearney is admired as a woman of elegance. At 95, she has lived a life believing and demonstrating that women can do anything. As Elizabeth reminisces on her life, she is thankful for the values her family instilled, the education she was fortunate to receive, the love story that spanned nearly 60 years and the opportunities to encourage women to do great things.

FAMILY

Elizabeth learned the importance of helping others as a child growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota. Her parents were generous to others and that generosity became a trait that carried on in their three children. A tight knit family, Elizabeth’s grandfather lived with them when she was young and he lovingly nicknamed her “Ducky,” a Scotch name that means young girl. “It had nothing to do with the bird, although my brothers thought it did and relentlessly taunted me,” she says with a laugh. The term of endearment stayed with Elizabeth and, for years, she was known as Ducky McLean to all her family and friends.

She saw her parents open their doors to family and friends with children aspiring for an education in the “big city.” Because of the firm foundation her family established, giving came natural to Elizabeth. Later in life, she followed in the footsteps of her parents and opened her home to extended family, foreign exchange students and was generous to those in need.

EDUCATION

Elizabeth believes that knowledge leads to opportunity and encourages women to pursue an education. Elizabeth earned a degree in medical technology at the University of Minnesota in the mid 1930s. “I always wanted to work in a laboratory,” Elizabeth says. Upon graduating, she was offered a job in California along with a motivating salary of $300 per month. “When I told my father about the job, he didn’t want me to go so far from home. He said, ‘Why don’t you apply at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota?’ and asked me to write his friend Dr. Holly Sanford about a job.” In the 1930s, as it is today, the Mayo Clinic was a leader in the medical field and a wonderful place for Elizabeth to gain further knowledge. “I interviewed with Dr. Sanford, a very nice man, and he hired me. I think my first salary was $60 per month, which wasn’t really enough to pay for my room and board, but my father helped out to keep me close to home. Soon after, the salary went up to $100 and that was more manageable.”

“The laboratories were excellent because Mayo Clinic had so many patients. We’d have hundreds of blood tests to work on where some private doctor’s offices would only have one or two a day,” Elizabeth says. “We would take blood all day long, then they’d move us to another department so we wouldn’t lose interest or become too anxious to ‘stick’ people. So we were assigned to do the specimen tests in the laboratory and that was interesting.”

LOVE

While Elizabeth worked at the Mayo Clinic she found love when a tall, handsome man named Wynn Kearney began his fellowship there. “Wynn was a young doctor and was given the assignment of working for Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie Mayo,” Elizabeth says. “It was the summer before I met him and of course I saw him going into the Mayo Clinic with Dr. Charlie and I thought he was a big shot. Little did I know he was just responsible for scheduling and getting them to their appointments on time. He was sort of spoiled those three years,” she says with a wink, “it was really a wonderful experience to work side by side the founders of the Mayo Clinic. Wynn was Dr. Charlie’s first assistant in surgery.”

While Elizabeth’s first impression of Wynn was that he was “a terrible snob,” she captured his attention right away. The Mayo Clinic often hosted dances for staff that allowed new doctors to meet others in the community. At one event, Elizabeth was dancing with another doctor when Wynn asked to cut in. Elizabeth was a statuesque 5’10” and Wynn, who was over six feet tall, had noticed her hunching over so not to tower over her previous dance partner. The first thing he said to her was, “You can pull in your rear and stand up straight now,” she remembers. “Then Wynn asked, ‘What’s your name?’ and I said, ‘Ducky McLean.’ He said, ‘Is that the only name you have?’ I said, ‘Well, my name is really Elizabeth.’ He thought that suited me better and never called me Ducky.”

In the following months, Wynn continued to pursue Elizabeth. An independent woman, she had turned down proposals from other men. At the time she wasn’t interested in getting married, which was not typical of women in that era. Her career was very important to her and she knew marriage traditionally meant devotion to your husband, your home and starting a family. “Wynn would call up but I always had another engagement so he finally learned to called two or three weeks in advance and then I went out with him.” One particularly memorable weekend, Wynn had been duck hunting and when he returned to Rochester he called and asked if he could come over to Elizabeth’s apartment to fix dinner. “I lived with three other girls who also worked at the Mayo Clinic. When we got home from work, he had a wild duck dinner prepared for us. It was delicious and flattering too. In all honesty, that was the first and last dinner he ever cooked for me!”

A few months later Wynn fell ill with a bad throat infection and was hospitalized for a few weeks. “I was dating him at the time and when they released him from the hospital, they didn’t want him working at the clinic for another week. With seven days of freedom, Wynn spontaneously said ‘I think we might as well get married!’ I told my mother and, bless her heart, she got busy and we were married within a few days.” Wynn and Elizabeth were married on July 22, 1939.

The newlyweds returned to Rochester where Wynn finished the third year of his fellowship. He was due to finish in March and had been looking at different surgical groups to join a practice. “Before leaving Mayo, Wynn had done a serious surgery on a man and the two became good friends,” Elizabeth says. “When he left the hospital, the man gave Wynn an envelope and in it was money to buy a car.” Wynn purchased a Ford and they headed out west to visit different clinics as well as friends and relatives along the way. After a few months of traveling, Wynn decided to move to his hometown of Mankato, Minnesota, and practice medicine there.

“Returning to Mankato, Wynn went to the bank, borrowed some money and opened an office. We settled here and it was fortunate. He had a good practice – he was a good surgeon, took good care of people and had good patients,” Elizabeth says. Shortly after starting his practice, the war started and Wynn went overseas.

ASPIRATIONS

Although Elizabeth was home caring for their first child, she desired to do more while her husband was away at war. Since her medical technology degree qualified her as a medical student, she decided to apply for medical school. “My parents still lived in St. Paul so I thought I could stay with Mother and Dad and go to medical school. I completed an application and had an interview,” she says. Her dream of becoming a doctor was crushed when the president of the university informed her “they don’t like having women medical students.”

“I was sure I could succeed in medical school and it always kind of bothered me that I wasn’t able to,” Elizabeth says. “I thought what a chance! Instead of being home waiting for the war to end, I could go to school. I really could have finished by the time Wynn got back too.”

“Medical school has really changed tremendously since then and I think women make wonderful doctors,” Elizabeth says. In many ways, being turned down from medical school jump-started her community involvement – and her desire to encourage women to develop their leadership skills. Despite her disappointment of not being accepted into medical school, Elizabeth was persistent in doing something – anything – to serve others. As her husband returned from WWII and their family grew to five children, she became involved in clubs, service groups, charities, non-profit organizations and educational institutions, leaving a legacy of community service.

LEADERSHIP

Elizabeth inspires other women to greatness through her involvement in the community and most recently with a leadership program she helped establish with the Mankato YWCA. “The YWCA is always thinking about things that help women enjoy their life. There are so many young girls who have good jobs and a good education living around town but they rarely seem to rise up to be the mayor or the president of the bank or run a big business,” Elizabeth says. “I thought they should have a class where successful women speak and encourage other women to develop their skills and to grow in a way that fits their individual aspirations.”

The Elizabeth Kearney Women’s Leadership Development Program takes women through nine months of capacity building, mentoring and support. The class also focuses on the unique challenges women face in becoming leaders in the workplace and community. “It is a successful endeavor that I didn’t do by myself,” she says. “I just felt that women should realize their potential. They can do things – they are able to – women are capable of doing great things.”

LIVING WITH DIGNITY & GRACE

Wynn and Elizabeth’s marriage was full of love, five children, wonderful travels, an extended family and many blessed memories. Elizabeth stood by her husband’s side for 59 years and mourned her loss when Wynn died of cancer in 1999.

Elizabeth not only believes women are capable of great things; she also knows the importance of doing the best you can. “You should always have high values in your appearance, your home and your lifestyle. I think it’s important,” she says. “I think that women should always pride themselves in themselves.” Elizabeth Kearney has an air of dignity and grace about her that people gravitate to and a love of community that inspires others to greatness. It is her legacy of family, education, love, aspirations and community involvement that radiate and her dedication to others that leaves a lasting memory.