Marion Kenworthy, M.D. (1891-1980) was honored at a dinner in New Orleans on Mother's Day, May 10, 1981. The women psychiatrists, Drs. Ardis Candy, Martha Kirkpatrick, and Carmen Ramos, who organized this event saw the evoking of Dr. Kenworthy's memory at the time of the American Psychiatric Association meeting in Louisiana, a state that has not ratified ERA, as a confirmation of women's contribution to psychiatric patients, organized psychiatry, and society, as well as an inspiration to persist in the struggle for passage of the ERA.
Dr. Kirkpatrick stated, “that Marion Kenworthy's memory be evoked for this purpose seems a suitable extension of the way she used her life, selflessly and vigorously for the many categories of “children” under her care and tutelage.” The attributes of her “Motherhood” were documented in presentations by Viola Bernard, M.D. and Edith Schulhofer, M.S.W., both of whom trained under Dr. Kenworthy. Dr. Henry Brosin, who attended, added a tribute.
Marion Kenworthy was one of two women admitted to the American Psychoanalytic Association in 1926, when women first became eligible for membership. She had a training analysis with Otto Rank during his first visit to the United States in the 1920's. She later was the first woman to be president of the American.
Dr. Bernard, Dr. Brosin, and Ms. Schulhofer all described with awe and admiration her wide range of interests, and the tenacity and vigor with which she pursued each. She developed the field of psychiatric social work, changing that profession from a limited administrative role to an active role in the clinical team, encompassing a psychoanalytic framework for understanding personality. Because she acknowledged the multiplicity of factors, external as well as internal, that disrupt and distort healthy mental development, she understood that the nation's mentally ill could not be treated by psychoanalysts or psychoanalysis alone. Thousands of social workers were taught by Dr. Kenworthy in her 36 years at the New York School of Social Work (now the Columbia University School of Social Work). When she retired in 1956 as Professor Emeritus, a chair was established in her honor.
In addition to an active private practice, she was a charter member of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry and the first woman President. She was Medical Director of the Bureau of Children's Guidance, a forerunner of the Child Guidance Movement. Dr. Bernard recounted evenings in Dr. Kenworthy's living room, devoted to organizing new projects, such as the Ad Hoc Non-sectarian Committee for Refugee Children, which sought to rescue children from the Nazis by Federal legislation.
Dr. Brosin told of her remarkable efforts in World War II to improve recruiting and selection procedures relative to mental health in the armed services. He emphasized the iron will and enormous energy required to implement change against powerful inertia, tradition, prejudice, and competing claims.
Dr. Kenworthy was active in the formation of the Group for the Advancement of Psychiatry (GAP) in 1946 and became its first woman President. She was also the first woman to be Vice-President of the American Psychiatric Association. As Dr. Bernard has written in a tribute to her, “For Marion, such posts were not medals to wear, but rather opportunities to work harder than ever for progress … She drove herself and her co-workers to efforts that were extraordinary.”