Jennifer Clark

Jennifer’s qualifying medical school yearbook quote: “Full of fire and fury, signifying nothing” sums up her characterful wit and regular substitution of alternative phrases and expressions for common words, her favourite being the use of Winston Churchill’s phrase ‘terminological inexactitude’. 

She was the youngest of five children from a rural farming background in Dumfriesshire. In 1957, at the age of 19 and during her second year of training, Jennifer was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). Despite this, she qualified without delay, married a vet who trained alongside her at The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, had three children and undertook a successful medical career lasting until 1993. 

Her working life began in Edinburgh before taking her to Dundee, Wigtownshire and, finally, Northumberland. Here, she worked initially as a GP, then as a Senior Clinical Medical Child Welfare Officer. 

Until Jennifer’s retirement, only close family members were aware of her MS diagnosis, about which she never complained, used as an excuse, or allowed to prevent her from living life to the full. Now 87, Jennifer remains a tour de force having inspired one of her daughters and two of her five grandchildren into careers in medicine.