Pullen, Roberta Interview

              OH 1333
Roberta Pullen
Tape I, side A
Introduction
The following is an interview with Roberta Pullen for the "Medicine, Health Care, and Nursing In
Montana" oral history project for the Montana Historical Society. During the interview Roberta Pullen
will discuss her father, Doctor Fred Taylor, one of the first practicing Osteopaths in Lewistown and
Central Montana and a prominent figure in the development of professional Osteopathy in the United
States; in addition, she describes her nurse's training at John Hopkins University during the 1940s as well
as her later career experiences. The interview was conducted in the living room of her home at 210
West Boulevard in Lewistown, Montana on June 19, 1990 beginning at approximately 10:30 a.m. The
interviewer is John Terreo.
Terreo: Mrs. Pullen can you tell me a little about yourself? When and where were you born?
Pullen: I was born in 1921 at the Bryce Hospital in Lewistown, Montana. It is an apartment house now
on Pine Street. I was born there because I arrived a little early. I was supposed to have been born in
Livingston [Montana]. Mother was to go the next week on the train because there in Livingston was a
doctor who was an M.D. and D.O. [Medical Doctor and Doctor of Osteopathy]. He was the only one I
know of in Montana at that time. He practiced under his M.D. but he also did manipulation and
practiced osteopathy. But that was just part of his medical service to his patients.
Terreo: What was his name?
Pullen: Townsend. I don't remember his first name. He was an old friend of my father. Apparently after
he got his osteopathic degree he decided he could do more if he had a medical degree too. In those days
osteopaths weren't allowed to do surgery although they were trained to. My father in his state boards
[examination] got ninety-eight [per cent] in the surgical part of it. Dad had no interest in surgery. In fact
he was one of those people who couldn't stand blood. He warned me when I went into nurses' training
that the first time I saw surgery I would probably faint.
Terreo: Tell a bit about your parents. Your father was probably the first osteopath in this area of the
state. What was his name?
Pullen: He was Fred Taylor. Lots of people gave him Frederick and it sounded dignified. They even gave
him "S" as a middle initial but his name was Fred Taylor. I guess his folks were kind of surprised that he
arrived. He was twenty-two years younger than his brother. I guess they named him whatever occurred
to them. There is no other Fred in the family. He was an Iowa farm boy. The farm had been in the family
- at that time - he was born in 1882 - at that time the farm had been the family for two generations.
They were pioneers in Iowa coming from Indiana. I never did know what illness he had. There was a
local osteopath who saved his life. Doctor Etter was his name. Dad determined then he would be an
osteopath and no more of this farming stuff. He didn't like husking corn in October and some of the hard
things that farmers had to do. But he loved horses and was very good with them. So he earned his way
to the college of osteopathy by buying mavericks [unbranded or unclaimed horses] from the west in
Omaha [Nebraska] and breaking them to teams. He was very careful about matching the horses. He
broke them to teams for buggies and some for riding. I ran into a woman when I was at the University of
Iowa whose husband had been the stockyard operator in Omaha whom dad had bought his horses from.
It was kind of surprising because I was dying to get away from here where people knew my father,
where I had to behave and get to Iowa were I could be free. I found out that I had cousins in every class
and here was this house mother at this sorority house who knew my father. My mother was also an
Iowan. Her mother and father were also born in Iowa. There were Scottish pioneers by way of Ohio. My