'A gifted healer and advocate': Binghamton's first Black female doctor impacted community
On a Sunday afternoon in April, they gathered to thank Dr. Beverly Hosten Dorsey.
They came to celebrate her impact on the community, her strength and her friendship. Family, friends, sorority sisters and public officials filled The Spot diner in Binghamton to honor the work of the city's first Black woman to practice medicine and the number of lives she'd touched in her 98 years.
Their testimonials echoed a similar, smaller conversation Jeannine Dorsey Thomas had shared with her mother a few days before, just a few miles down the road inside St. Louise Manor.
Dorsey's tenacity had shaped her career, as had her love for the community. At the heart of her reputation was a commitment to treating people with respect. She offered that lesson to the people she spoke with during her celebration in April, and she'd worked to instill it in each of her daughters.
Hosten Dorsey died a few weeks later on May 9, with her daughter by her side, leaving behind this lesson as part of her legacy, and a powerful example to follow.
Hosten Dorsey was first Black woman to practice medicine in Binghamton
Hosten Dorsey was born on April 5, 1925 in Manhattan, but grew up in Brooklyn, according to her obituary. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry and the sciences from Hunter College in 1944 and spent several years teaching grade school before attending Howard University Medical School.
Hosten Dorsey met her husband, the late Beverly Dorsey, at Howard University Medical School and the two married in 1953, interned at Queens General Hospital and moved to Binghamton to complete their residency at Wilson Hospital a year later.
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Both Hosten Dorsey and her husband, who worked for the Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company before beginning their own medical practice, retired in 1997.
According to her obituary written by Hosten Dorsey's daughter, Adrienne Dorsey Wheeler, her mother was generous, "giving unconditional love and specific advice to family, patients and community.
"A high energy person with fierce determination to restore smiles and relief in the many venues she operated in, Beverly was a gifted healer and advocate."
Memorial service will be held for Dr. Beverly Hosten Dorsey
Beverly is survived by her daughters, Adrienne and Jeannine; three grandsons, Zachary Paul Thomas, William Dorsey Wheeler and Seth Emanual Thomas; sister-in-law, Ann Denise Burt Hosten; nephews, Michael Orlando Hosten, Gregory Rawle Hosten, Terence Borah Hosten, Paul Trestand Hosten, and Joseph Santiago Hosten and a circle of devoted friends, according to her obituary.
A memorial service will be held at a date to be announced at the Trinity Memorial Episcopal Church, 44 Main St. Binghamton, where Hosten Dorsey maintained "a very active presence."
"Following her example of constantly caring for other people will help us enrich our lives on a going forward basis," Adrienne said of her mother's passing. "Her legacy will be the love, hard work and wisdom she applied to all of her life endeavors."
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This article originally appeared on Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin: Binghamton's first Black woman to practice medicine dies at 98
