Memories of Leila Denmark

Retired pediatrician Leila Denmark marked her 112th birthday on Feb. 1, making her the 10th oldest American and 24th oldest person in the world. Denmark, well-loved by the thousands of patients, practiced until she was 103. Responding to an Athens Banner-Herald request to share their memories about her, readers sent in these personal stories:  

Here is a link to our earlier story: http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/020110/new_557313147.shtml

Leila Denmark Memories 02/2/2010

Tuesday, February 02, 2010 8:42 AM

Happy Birthday Dr. Denmark,

I want to say that she is the sweetest most loving person that I have ever met. Because of Dr. Denmark I am alive today. I have a story on the same lines as another lady wrote. As a baby I had no immunities, I was very sick and fading fast. My mom took me to Specialist everywhere, no one knew what to do. A close friend advised my mother to take me to see Dr. Denmark. After examining me she said I would have lasted maybe 24 hours. She too had me eat stew beef, black-eyed peas, rice, bananas and water to drink. I am now 44 with a 28-year-old son and a 16-year-old daughter, both of whom were patients of Dr. Denmark.

My mother and I will cherish this precious lady always.

-Joan Case

Monday, February 01, 2010 9:10 AM

My late Father, Dr. Hamilton G Ansley, was in the 1928 Georgia Medical School class with Dr. Denmark. She was the only female in the class. He always held her in high regard. I talked with her on her 100th birthday and she remembered specific things about him and the name of my Mother who was an Augusta girl. The world would indeed be a better place if there were more people like her. She is one of a kind.

-Wiley S. Ansley III

Monday, February 01, 2010 10:15 AM

Happy Birthday to a wonderful Great Aunt. Alicia

-Alicia Giles

Monday, February 01, 2010 10:15 AM

Happy Birthday Dr. Denmark! Lots of great memories. Mainly the diagnosis of our son’s whooping cough at age 2 and a half. We miss our visits.  

-Rita & Larry Crosswhite

Monday, February 01, 2010 10:55 AM

I was Dr. Denmark's patient as a child 71 years ago. I also remember the "warm undershirt" story as another person told. I remember going to her office in the Little Five Points area of Atlanta; her office was in a terrace apartment on the back lower level of her home, and we walked around the house to get to it.

 Many years later as an Athenian I got to know Mary Hutcherson, her daughter, not knowing for a long time that she was Dr. Denmark's daughter.  Several years ago we were eating at an Athens restaurant when a party arrived and passed our table; I recognized Dr. Denmark, and after they'd gotten settled at their table I went over to speak to her and Mary. I got on my knees beside her and told her I was one of her patients from long before. She immediately remembered and said, "Oh, I remember a Mr. Roark who worked at the Federal Prison in Atlanta. His children came to me." She was absolutely right. That was when she was about 105 years old!     

-John H. Roark  

  Buford, GA

Monday, February 01, 2010 12:13 PM

Dr. Denmark is truly an angel!!! She saved my oldest daughter's life in 1981. Nicole was 5 1/2 weeks old, 101 temperature, dehydrated even though she was on Pedialyte, and couldn't keep anything in. The pediatrician group I was using said they didn't know what else to do. Dr. Denmark took care of my Dad, who is now 80. He said there "used to be a doctor that took care of me but I'm not sure if she's still practicing.”  That was in May 1981 and after a phone call and 1 visit, Dr. Denmark knew what to do to make my baby well! She took care of my other little angel, Crystal, as well as my nephews. My daughters are now grown, with Nicole having a 22-month old and a 10-week-old, and Dr. Denmark's advice and book are still used on a daily basis. Thank you Dr. Denmark for making Mothers know they have the most important job on earth!

Happy 112th birthday from the Swansons.

-Sherry Swanson

Hoschton, Ga.

Monday, February 01, 2010 1:14 PM

I, Betty Rose Suddath Young, spent a week at Aunt Leila's, to see if I could gain a few pounds, now they tell me not to gain, I am too fat. When my daughter (Nancy Young Harmon) was born, Aunt Leila save her life by putting her on a milk free diet. She, the Doctor, always use a little common sense in her medical profession. My mother (Myrtice Daughtry Suddath Porter), Dr. Denmark's sister, was two years younger and as children they were dressed as twins. Grandma Alice Hendricks Daughtry had 14 children, one was a still born and one died (Morgan) as a very young child, 12 lived to be grown and have families. I love the stories they tell about the Daughtry Family. When Aunt Leila taught school (before be-coming a doctor) the students were taller than she was. I can't believe next year Aunt Leila will be a teenager the second time around. When I call Aunt Leila I say " I love you, I love you," and she would say "What do you want ? Betty Rose."  Dr Leila Daughtry Denmark, is so very Dear to me and Mary Denmark Hutcherson is my sister I never had.

-Betty Rose

Monday, February 01, 2010 2:15 PM

I'm very pleased that your paper is honoring Dr. Leila Denmark.  She is an amazing woman who has guided and helped many mothers over the span of her long life. I am one of those mothers and a former patient myself. When I was a child, Dr. Denmark practiced in an office adjoined to her home near I-285 and Sandy Springs. I remember late-night visits, as it didn't matter when a child needed to be seen, she was available.

She also had the innate ability to look at a child and within minutes tell a mother what is wrong with her child. When I was a patient in the 60's and early 70's she seemed to me to be close to retirement age, so it was surprising to me when, as a new mother, my mom suggested that I take my newborn to see Dr. Denmark. She was 89 at the time and I was a bit hesitant, but succumbed to the pressure of my mother and we went to see Dr. Denmark, who by then was practicing in a small farmhouse in Forsyth County. We entered the "back door" (the newborns were kept separate from the other sick babies) and waited our turn. My newborn son had been crying on and off the previous week, and continued to do so as we waited.  When she finished with the patient she was with, she opened up the door from her examination room, and said, "Why is that little one crying? There is something the matter.' She took him in to her office, pressed his skin on his upper arm and said, "I don't believe he is getting enough food.” She asked me to undress him and she weighed him. She then asked me to feed him (I was breastfeeding) and immediately after I finished feeding him, she weighed him again. "Yes, that shows me, he is not getting enough milk from you, you will need to supplement," she said. She then gave me specific instructions on how to breastfeed supplementing with a soy formula. I took my son home, fed him as she instructed and he was great! There was no battery of tests, blood work, or the such, just wisdom from years of practicing. I was convinced...Dr. Denmark would be the pediatrician for my children.  

Dr. Denmark would tell a new mother to never let their baby sleep on their back. Aside from the risk of choking, the head would be deformed. She would give specific instructions on how to make the bed, so that when the newborn slept on his stomach, he would not smother. She was right...have you noticed all the babies now who have flat heads? Well, Dr. Denmark babies did not have flat heads. Their heads were beautiful and round and they slept safe and secure on their stomach!

I have shared her methods with other mothers. Some heeded, some didn't. But, I can tell you, with confidence, those mothers who followed her methods had babies who slept all night, ate well, and were healthy.

Both my children are very familiar with the Dr. Denmark methods and my prayer is that they will use them when they have children of their own. By the way, they are both UGA students.    

-Elizabeth Springston

 Buford, Georgia

Monday, February 01, 2010 2:23 PM

I am a third generation Dr. Denmark patient. My mother took me to Dr. Denmark starting when I was a newborn (just as her mother had done) and both my younger sister and I continued to visit her through our young childhood.

I remember that her office (which was an old farm house) was right next door to her home. I remember the old house she worked out of had a front porch and the entire interior had these ancient hardwood floors. Those old floors. I remembered loving the deep hollow echoing sound they made when you walked on them, especially the moms in their high hee

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