Gomery, Minnie, 1875-1967

Minnie Gomery was born in Birmingham, England on July 15, 1875. She was the third child of Henry Gumery (he later changed the spelling to Gomery) and his wife Sarah Smith. When Minnie was 9 years of age, the family immigrated to Quebec, finally settling in Montreal in 1892. Around this time, she decided to become a medical missionary of the Anglican Church, and enrolled in medical school at Bishop's University in 1894. Upon her graduation in 1898, Dr. Gomery found her options for work in Montreal severely limited as many hospitals refused to admit women as medical students. Moreover, as a woman she was not permitted to perform surgery, and could gain no practical experience in this area. Deciding that Canada had little to offer her professionally, she spent 18 months in theological and medical training in London under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society. This organization sent her to Kashmir in 1900, where she worked for almost 50 years. Most of her years there were spent at the John Bishop Memorial Hospital in Islamabad, but she also worked for a short time as superintendent and teacher in a school for girls. In 1935, she officially retired from medical missionary work and returned to Montreal for a year, but later moved back to Kashmir as a volunteer. She continued her medical missionary work there for another 12 years. Dr. Gomery moved between Kashmir and Montreal for several years after that until permanently settling in Montreal in 1953. She died on March 8, 1967 at the age of 92. Her experiences in Kashmir are chronicled in her 1951 book "Neighbors in Kashmir."