Obituary: Dr Thelma M Phelps

Dr Thelma M Phelps MFCM

Thelma was born in 1922 in south London. She attended the Mary Datchelor School and The Royal Free Hospital medical school for women. Her father believed that money spent on education was never wasted. Shortly after the start of the first year of the course the second world war broke out and the students were evacuated to St Andrews. In the second year, they were sent to Exeter and the clinical years were spent in and around London. Thelma qualified with LRCP MRCS in 1944 and MB BS in 1945. After house jobs in East London she married and moved to Nottingham. While her children were small, she worked as a dental Anaesthetist for 17 years. Thelma then made a move to public health and studied full time for the Diploma in Public Health in Bristol in 1969/70. She worked as a Specialist in Community Medicine in Nottinghamshire until she retired in 1987. Thelma was a member of the Medical Women’s Federation for 65 years and was enthusiastic in her support of women in medicine. Thelma died of a stroke on 26th October 2019 aged 97. She is survived by a son and a daughter who is a consultant Geriatrician, two grandsons and two granddaughters one of whom is a GP and the other a medical student, and five great grandchildren.

Dr Rachel Angus, daughter I met Thelma when we became neighbours over thirty years ago, and she was approaching retirement. We struck up a friendship when she discovered I was a young married woman doctor, and quite soon after, she started to invite me to local MWF meetings. Thelma was very strong-minded and fiercely independent and very encouraging and supportive of young women doctors. She was an enthusiastic and committed supporter of the MWF and was once the local secretary of the East Midlands Association as it was then, for 14 years, so she told me. In her retirement Thelma had many hobbies (doll making, upholstery, woodwork and entertaining her friends, to name but a few). For several years after she retired, Thelma was an independent visitor for children in care (she had been a medical adviser for adoption), and she always was interested in children and young people. Thelma enjoyed lots of social activities until well into her 80s, including attending MWF Spring meetings wherever they were held, as well as supporting local MWF activities and me in my first few years as local secretary. Several years ago, Thelma wrote about her wartime medical student experiences for Medical Woman. In her last few years, she lost her sight because of macular degeneration which was a great frustration. However, she continued to attend local group meetings until the last 2-3 years and remained interested in news of the MWF. She was pleased to be given life membership of MWF in 2017. To me personally, Thelma was a very kind, generous and supportive friend and neighbour. I learnt quite a lot from her about managing retirement and later on, the vicissitudes of old age, as she would put it. I shall miss her.

Dr Yin Ng