Dr. Priscilla Ann Gilman

STORRS

Dr. Priscilla Ann Gilman, 87, died on March 5 in Aurora Colorado. She was born in Hartford, Connecticut to Dr. Ralph and Ruby Gilman and grew up in Storrs. At her graduation from Windham High School in 1953, she ranked first out of 300 students. After completing pre-med studies at Swarthmore College, she went on to Case Western Reserve Medical School,

graduating in 1962, and then served as an intern there for a year. There followed a pediatric internship, residency, and then a hematology and oncology fellowship at Johns Hopkins.

Subsequently she joined the faculty of the University of Maryland Medical School, where she met her future husband, Dr. Robert Solenberger. She then served 3 years as an Expert Scientist at the National Cancer Institute. When her husband moved to Augusta, Georgia, for his surgical residency at the Medical College of Georgia, she joined him there. At the time, she couldnt get a job at the Medical College of Georgia, so she joined the Army, serving at Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Ft. Gordon. After they divorced, she joined the faculty of West Virginia Medical School in Morgantown. She returned to Augusta, to Medical College of Georgia and married Dr. Larry Lutcher.

Priscilla cared for many children with leukemia and sickle cell disease; she was best known for her work in hematology. She had a passion for justice and equality her entire life in both her medical practice and support for organizations advocating for civil rights.

Including active duty and active reserve, she served in the Army for 25 years, retiring as a Lt Colonel. In mid-career she decided to switch medical fields and took a residency in psychiatry, becoming a practicing psychiatrist and neurologist as well as Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Medical College of Georgia.

Priscilla wanted to be a physician from childhood and showed great determination, overcoming multiple obstacles to reach that goal. She had a serious illness in her junior year of high school,

requiring her to make up course work over the following summer, but still graduated first in her class. All but one medical school she applied to turned her down because she was a woman; Case Western accepted her but required her to wait for a year to enroll, for the same reason. Once there, she had to endure gender bias, as one of the very few women in the class. During her time in Baltimore, she was mugged and seriously injured but recovered.

In the year between college and medical school, she taught physical education at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. At Swarthmore she had become a national champion archer, and excelled also in high school in synchronized swimming, so she taught archery and swimming at UConn. While practicing medicine and serving in the army in Georgia, she overcame cancer

twice, and had to rebuild her home after a second-floor water hose burst and ran for a month while she and her husband Larry were in Oregon. After retirement Priscilla lived at Brandon Wilde in Evans GA, until she moved to Chelsea Place in Aurora CO in October 2023 to be closer to two of her brothers and their families. She received excellent, compassionate care from the Chelsea Place staff.

She leaves behind three brothers: Donald Gilman of Alexandria VA, Dr. James Gilman of Denver CO, and Peter Gilman of Boulder CO, three sisters in-law, Mary Ellen Gilman of Alexandria, Patricia Gilman of Denver, and Margaret LeMone of Boulder. Priscilla's husband of almost 40 years, Dr. Larry Lutcher, predeceased her. Priscilla also leaves behind three stepchildren, (Larry Jr., Shawna Lutcher Todd and Derk Lutcher) and five step-grandchildren, (William Lutcher, Lawrence Lutcher, Brittany Ann Jones, Lauren Todd and Samantha Todd), and one step-great-grandaughter, Emma Faith Jones. She is also survived by

eleven nieces and nephews and ten grand-nieces and nephews.

The family suggests that those wishing to do so, donate to Swarthmore College, Medical

College of Georgia, or the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Dr. Priscilla Ann Gilman