It has happened to all of us. Someone remembers you…and you have no recollection of them. Marilyn Gowen was at a Dean’s welcoming party for freshmen at the University of Richmond and gave a couple of young men a ride back to their dorms. They didn’t see each other again until both were 1st year med students at Medical College of Virginia. As it turns out, they were in a group of ten or so med students who sat together. Her husband, C.W., maintains that he was one of the two boys Marilyn gave a ride back to their dorms that night early in their college careers.
Marilyn grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and commuted to the U. of Richmond where she majored in biology. She was torn about her future and considered medicine, veterinary, and dentistry ultimately settling upon medicine. Although she and C.W. were in the small group, they didn’t start dating until the fourth year of medical school.
After receiving her medical degree, Marilyn went to the University of Louisville for her residency in pediatrics. C.W. went to Cincinnati for his residency in pediatrics. They would stay in touch and would occasionally get together on a weekend when both were free. It could be up to nine months before they would get together.
One of Marilyn’s memories of her time in Louisville was that the air smelled different. When she returned to Virginia for a visit, she discovered that what she was missing was the odor of pine trees. The other vivid memory was of the tornadoes. One day, she and her roommate had gone to Lexington, about 90 miles away. On their return, they came face to face with a tornado. While driving down the road the car suddenly ended up in the other lane. Her roommate told her she didn’t change lanes.
From Louisville, Marilyn went to Duke University for a fellowship in allergy and pulmonology. C.W., who is also a pediatrician, ended up just down the road in Chapel Hill for a fellowship in neonatology. They married about a year before they finished their fellowships. They spent five years at East Carolina University before C.W. accepted a position with CHKD as the Pediatric Residency Director.
Marilyn retired from being the Director of Pediatric Pulmonology almost a year ago and describes giving up her beeper as one of the happiest days of her life. Her father was a Rotarian and Chip Vogan introduced her to our club which she joined in February. She enjoys the speakers and the friendships. She is a Paul Harris Fellow.
She is on the board of the Williams School and the Tidewater Children’s Foundation. She volunteers at St. Mary’s Infant Home once a month. She enjoys working in the garden and is active in her church. They enjoy collecting art which ranges everything from Hudson Valley to European, glass, textile, and modern. Marilyn also has a love of history. She and C.W. enjoy travel and she has a fond spot for the Tetons and Yellowstone National Park.
C.W. has a very unique hobby. He makes model buildings out of sugar cubes which he dyes and puts into cube molds. The grout is Royal icing which is “hard as a rock.” Marilyn gives up her kitchen for his hobby for several months a year. Most years, the model building is large—two feet tall and three feet long. This year, he is working on a Tudor village. Seeing his creations was a favorite of the residents.
C.W. and Marilyn have two children. Sarah is a conservator at the National Gallery. Rebecca, who has a Masters degree in counseling, works at CHKD.