Ivylyn Girardeau

American medical missionary

Ivylyn Girardeau

in 1922 yearbook of Agnes Scott College

Born|

Ivylyn Lee Girardeau

(1900-10-16)October 16, 1900

Thomaston, Georgia, U.S.

Died| September 11, 1987(1987-09-11) (aged 86)
Burial place| Upson County, Georgia
Education| Agnes Scott College,
Tulane University
Occupation(s)| medical doctor, missionary
Known for| missionary in India and Pakistan
Parents|

* John Bohun Girardeau (father)
* Emma Trice Girardeau (mother)

Ivylyn Lee Girardeau (October 16, 1900 — September 11, 1987) was an American medical doctor and missionary in India and Pakistan.

## Early life

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Ivylyn Lee Girardeau was from Thomaston, Georgia, the daughter of John Bohun Girardeau and Emma Trice Girardeau.[1]

Ivylyn Girardeau attended Agnes Scott College, graduating in 1922,[2] and earned her medical degree in 1931, at Tulane University.[3][4]

## Career

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Girardeau traveled to India with sponsorship from the Woman's Union Missionary Society (WUMS). She learned to speak Hindi and Urdu. From 1933 to 1945[4] she ran a fifty-bed facility, the Mary Ackerman Hoyt Memorial Hospital in Jhansi, mainly providing obstetric care.[5][6]

In the United States, Girardeau served her internship at the Women and Children's Hospital in Boston.[5] When she was in the United States on extended furloughs in the 1940s and 1950s, she toured and gave lectures about her work at churches and for civic clubs.[7][8][9] "It is the most fascinating country in the world — and potentially one of the most powerful or dangerous," she told Atlanta Constitution readers in 1945.[10] At age 72, she went to Pakistan and India again, as a medical relief worker.[3] She was a pediatrician in Thomaston, and on the original staff of the Upson Regional Medical Hospital.[3]

## Personal life and legacy

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Ivylyn Girardeau died in 1987, aged 86 years. Her gravesite is in Upson County.[3]

Girardeau House, a Christian orphanage and school in Uganda, is named for Ivylyn Girardeau.[11] There are two folders of papers related to Ivylyn Girardeau's work in the Records of the Woman's Union Missionary Society, at the Billy Graham Center in Wheaton, Illinois.[12]

## References

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1. ^ Horry Frost Prioleau, Edward Lining Manigault, eds., Register of Carolina Huguenots, Vol. 2, Dupre - Manigault (2010): 851. ISBN 9780557242665
2. ^ Ivylyn Girardeau, "Medicine at Tulane" Agnes Scott Alumnae Quarterly (1927-1928): 7.
3. ^ a b c d Glenwood Cemetery Self-Guided Tour, stop 12, page 6.
4. ^ a b Evelyn Hanna, "Rural Georgia's Woman Doctor" Atlanta Constitution (September 13, 1948): 7. via Newspapers.com
5. ^ a b Yolande Gwin, "First Comfy Shoes in Five Years Bought by Missionary in Atlanta" Atlanta Constitution (May 27, 1938): 32. via Newspapers.com
6. ^ Evelyn Hanna, "Medical Missionary Reports on India" Atlanta Constitution (January 30, 1945): 7. via Newspapers.com
7. ^ "Covenant Church Group" Atlanta Constitution (April 8, 1945): 26. via Newspapers.com
8. ^ "Dr. Girardeau BPW Speaker at Warrington" Pensacola News Journal (October 19, 1952): 35. via Newspapers.com
9. ^ "Mount Calvary Church" Elizabethtown Chronicle (August 6, 1959): 8. via Newspapers.com
10. ^ Evelyn Hanna, "More Concerning Conditions in India" Atlanta Constitution (January 31, 1945): 5. via Newspapers.com
11. ^ "The Girardeau House" Grace for Education website.
12. ^ Records of the Woman's Union Missionary Society, Billy Graham Center, Wheaton IL.

## External links

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* Ivylyn Girardeau at Find a Grave