Source: http://www.spinalcord.ar.gov/Resources/2007_01Courier.pdf

Gold Star Awaits Dr. Shirley

She had many names, the ``Little Doc,'' ``Dr. Spinal Cord,'' the ``Little General,'' but there were few who didn't recognize Dr. Shirley McCluer. Diminutive in size, she made up for it in spirit. When Dr. McCluer died on December 2, 2006, at age 79, it was the ``end of an era'' for the spinal cord injury community in Arkansas.

Dr. McCluer began her medical career at LSU School of Medicine. She became a physician in 1955, when there were few women physicians. As Dr. Vicki Stefans, Physiatrist at Arkansas Children's Hospital noted, ``She was a pioneer and a role model, a missionary for a field that used to need missionaries a lot more than it does now. We take for granted the kind of care our patients can have today, but those of us who provide it need to remember that we stand on the shoulders of those who came before.''

She completed her residency at Sister Kenny Institute in Minneapolis, working with polio patients. That training began her long distinguished career as a physiatrist, a specialist in rehabilitation, though she considered herself a paraplegist, a spinal cord specialist. In 1964, she became the Medical Director at the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center, Arkansas' first center for rehabilitation. She worked there until 1969.

Over the years she worked in spinal cord injury centers around the U.S. and the world. In 1985, Dr. McCluer returned to Arkansas to join the UAMS faculty in the newly established Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, while serving as the Spinal Cord Injury Unit Medical Director at Baptist Rehabilitation Institute. She had been integral in the development of the Arkansas Spinal Cord Commission (ASCC) and upon her return became ASCC Medical Director, serving in that role until 1998.

Over the course of her years at BHRI, Dr. McCluer worked with many new spinal cord injuries. ``She was the little general,'' related Billy Altom, a former patient and Director of the Delta Resource Center. ``She had her beliefs and you followed them. She was going to make you independent. She would get after family or friends if they pushed your wheelchair for you.'' A tough task-maker, she felt people with SCI should be respon- sible for their care--they knew their bodies better than anyone. A true advocate, she was one of the people Richard Petty and Marilyn Cox called when a group of advocates started the first independent living center in Arkansas, now called Mainstream.

Dr. McCluer retired from UAMS in 1993. She spent the last decade of her career writing, teaching, and developing resources so that she could pass on what she had learned in her long career to those who could use it. Many of her articles, fact sheets and emergency cards have been reprinted around the world. For years after retirement, her patients called for her advice.

Shirley McCluer had high expectations--of herself, her colleagues and her patients. She made you want to achieve, and she often rewarded you with a gold star for achieving a goal. After retirement, she continued to teach a tai chi class and a computer class for senior citizens and she pursued her love of genealogy. She is survived by her sister, Jody Boyd of Jena, LA, and a host of nieces and nephews.

The members and staff of ASCC will never forget Dr. Shirley McCluer. Arkansas is a better place for her time here.