Dr. Lillian Rich

Written by Kit Zinser

Young women who wanted to enter the field of medicine in the 1900s fought long and hard for equality.  The path was never easy, and prejudice abounded, but Washington was lucky to call Lillian Rich, M.D., one of their own. Located across from Brecklin’s in a plain and simple house, Dr. Rich attended to patients in and around Washington. Dark oak floors with handmade rugs and whitewashed walls gave her office a homey appearance.  She had a child-size rocking chair that fit perfectly and a myriad of books to entertain waiting patients.  Her sidekick, friend, and receptionist handled calls and people with a smile and quick wit.  A big black phone sat on the corner of the desk, and the number was 339.  Her home number was 418.  The wait was never too long.  Dr. Rich came out of her inner office to say hello and walked you into the examining room herself.  The expected antiseptic smell wafted throughout, and her worn black leather bag rested nearby.  Doctors’ bags in those days accommodated miniature pharmacies. Tiny bottles with pills of every hue- pink, purple, green, yellow, and blue-offered cures and analgesics.  Medicine was dispensed into tiny white envelopes with directions written below the fold.  As any good doctor in that era, she made house calls. Calling Habecker Ambulance (Phone 34) was usually done by the doctor and only for very serious cases.  Nights were often short for Lillian since she treated patients at home and then drove straight to the office for the upcoming day’s appointments. 

Dr, Rich was born to Joseph and Louisa Roth Rich on a farm in Morton Township.  She had two brothers and a sister.  Lillian graduated from the University of Illinois and Rush Medical in Chicago.

She first worked at the Peoria State Hospital for four years, then in Washington for 22 years.  She “retired” to Black Mountain, North Carolina, which was a well-known mecca for musicians, artists, and poets.  Dr. Rich loved the mountains and stayed for 18 years. During that time, she returned to medicine, traveling from home to home, bringing care to families who needed her the most.  In 1980, she came back to Washington.  Missing her cabin in North Carolina, she constructed a log cabin with a wood fireplace on her farm property out on Dutch Lane.  So she could follow her passion for fishing, a small stocked lake sat in front of the cabin.  Just a bit down the hill was a massive barn.  She delighted in showing visitors the pristine and enviable woodworking shop smelling of clean sawdust and wood polish.  This was where her artistry happened.  She found comfort and relaxation as she designed wooden toys for many nieces and nephews and marquetry for friends and family.  The location was perfect: between her new cottage at Maple Lawn in Eureka and her hometown. 

She was a member of the Calvary Mennonite Church, the Tazewell County Medical Society, the Medical Society of Asheville, N.C., and the American Medical Society.  Dr. Rich received the Washingtonian of the Year Award.  I admired her mind, sense of humor, and giving nature.  We had dinner one December evening in 1986, sipping tea and discussing the future.  She spied a tiny wooden airplane hanging on the Christmas tree and asked if she could use it for a pattern.  After extolling the virtues of Eureka College (I was considering a new career at age 47 and looking at schools), we parted ways …she with her little wooden airplane and me with a new Mennonite cookbook.  She said, “Well, Kitten, when it warms up, you and Caroline (a classmate of Lillian’s) will have to come to the cabin again for dinner, and maybe we can do some fishing.”  March 1987 came, and sadly we did not get to have that dinner.