Wednesday, August 04, 2004

Net Freak Alert: My Five Stages of Grief for Gretchen Worden

Net Freak Alert: My Five Stages of Grief for Gretchen Worden
By Kathleen Kotcher, Online Editor

For those of you who don’t know by now: Gretchen Worden the Director of the Mutter Museum http://www.collphyphil.org/muttpg1.shtml died on August 2 after a brief illness.

I have now written and erased a bunch of really lame but heartfelt phrases about the honor of knowing Gretchen Worden.

Let us just say I am going through the Five Stages of Grief at my own pace shall we?

1. Denial. This would be where I called the bearer of the bad news and grilled her mercilessly. ("But how do you KNOW this? Who is your source? Are you SURE they are trustworthy?") Charon, I'm really sorry.

2. Anger. Oh, I’m staying pissed about this one. How in the world can so many crappy, listless, evil people STILL be alive and NOT GRETCHEN? Not fair. Not fair at all.

3. Bargaining. I seem to have skipped this one.

4. Depression. I think I’ll be stuck here for a while.

5. Acceptance. Nope. It’ll never happen. See number 2 for my rationale on this one.

So while lots of more skilled writers than I are writing pages and pages of moving, thoughtful tributes to a great, great lady, I am stuck writing and deleting a bunch of stuff I KNOW Gretchen would roll her eyes at. And making a dumb list.

I’m going to let other people speak for me here. But before I cut and paste the words of others here, I want to give you one last chance to get to know Gretchen. Or to visit with Gretchen one more time if you did know her.

She was on Fresh Air with Terry Gross a while ago. That interview will be rebroadcast Friday, August 6 at 3:00 P.M. and 7:00 P.M. on WHYY Radio (91 FM). You can listen to it here http://www.whyy.org/ .

James Taylor had this to say:

"This announcement, this bit of sad news, will be brief; frankly, it’s news I never thought I’d be delivering: Gretchen Worden, Director of the best museum in the world, long-time fan and invaluable friend to the sideshow business, and great friend to me and many, many others passed away on Monday. Much of the standard obit type stuff you can read below, generously supplied by artist James Mundie http://www.missioncreep.com/mundie/images/ . For my part âsthe guy whom Gretchen once called her "best girlfriend" (a joke I understood for the huge compliment it was) I’ll just tell a quick story.

In one of our many, many discussions over way too many drinks, we drifted into religion. She was a Swedenborgian and I’m an atheist, so, of course, the discussion ended up about where one would expect. When I told her, of course, that in spite of her belief in things outside this life, I was going into the ground when my day was done, and that that would be it, she looked at me and cut that huge grin of hers. "Well, she said, "you won’t really have anything to say about that." So, deary, if you were right, I suppose I’ll see you around; regardless, I’ll see you everywhere, every day, on this planet you changed so much for the better."

James Mundie had this to say:

"Gretchen Worden, who devoted her entire professional career to revitalizing the Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia (http://www.collphyphil.org/muttpg1.shtml), died August 2nd after a brief illness.

Ms. Worden relied on an encyclopedic knowledge of medical history, a tart sense of humor and a compelling television presence to forge an international reputation as a museum educator and spokeswoman for the Mutter.

Her recent book about the museum became a best seller [KK note: can learn more about her book here: http://www.blastbooks.com/mutter/index.html] . She was a frequent guest on "The Late Show With David Letterman" and appeared in numerous science documentaries produced by the BBC. Ms. Worden, who was 57, continued to work until a few days before her death.

Ms. Worden, the daughter of a Standard Oil geologist, was born in Shanghai, China in 1947. She graduated from Temple University with a degree in Anthropology in 1970. She joined the staff of the College's Mutter Museum as a curatorial assistant in 1975. Ms. Worden became the museum's curator in 1982 and its director in 1988.

As the leader of the museum, she presided over a facility with unique historical and pathological collections that was little known to the public. Knowing that its long-term future depended on the museum's acquiring a higher public profile, Ms. Worden worked tirelessly to promote it.

Her efforts included numerous appearances on television and radio, offering lectures about the museum from Philadelphia to Paris and launching a popular series of museum calendars. When

Ms. Worden became curator in 1982, the museum attracted several hundred visitors each year. At the time of her death, museum visitation had grown to more than 60,000 tourists annually.
Ms. Worden's ultimate goal was to have the Mutter Museum accredited by the American Association of Museums. Commenting on Ms. Worden's contributions to the College of Physicians, College President Arthur Asbury, M.D. noted that "The College of Physicians is deeply saddened by the loss of Gretchen Worden. She embodied the Mutter Museum both locally and nationally for three decades. She is irreplaceable."

Recalling his own experience working with Ms. Worden, the College's Chief Executive Officer Mark S. Hochberg, M.D. said "Gretchen was an incandescent personality. She represented a unique combination of curatorial brilliance, superb communication skills and irresistible charm. The College of Physicians family has lost a treasured colleague and friend."

Gretchen Worden was known for her wide-ranging intellectual interests. She was a past president of the Medical Museums Association, Museum Council of Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley and the Walt Whitman Association. She was a long serving member of the Board of the Friends of Independence National Historical Park.

A Memorial Service to celebrate Gretchen's life will be held at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 South 22nd Street, Philadelphia, on Sunday, September 12, 2004, at 2:00 p.m. In lieu of flowers, please consider a contribution to the Mutter Museum in Gretchen Worden's memory."

And finally, Jeff Krulik summed up my feelings about this best:

"I'm sick."

posted by Scott "Unpainted" Huffines at 8:01 AM | Permanent Link

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