Interlude, 1910-1936

Prior to Helen Goldhaft, four women graduated from Cornell Veterinary College. Florence Kimball was the first in 1910. The next was Adalyn Schoenfeld Yaskin, 1925, about whom little is known.

Cornelia Jaynes, 1927 became the third female graduate of the college. After spending a year as a research technician at the Rockefeller Institute, she opened her own practice on a farm in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1951, she established the Small Animal Veterinary Endowment (SAVE), which rescued strays and provided neutering services regardless of the clients’ ability to pay. Dr. Jaynes was never able to raise enough funds to build a shelter. She died on her farm April 15, 1969. Two years later, SAVE merged with another organization and, together, they were able to build the shelter of which Dr. Jaynes had dreamed, on the very land where she had spent 40 years caring for the community’s animals.

Johanna "Jo" Asmus Sutorius, 1929 was the daughter of Henry Asmus, the College's farriery professor from 1913 until 1939. After Dr. Sutorius graduated in 1929 she went into practice in Sayville, Long Island. She maintained her practice (with some time off to raise her children) until her retirement in 1963. She was active in the New York State Veterinary Medical Society as well as the local professional organizations on Long Island. She died August 4, 1989, in Jensen Beach, Florida.

Three years after Helen Goldhaft left Cornell, Gertrude Fisher Kinsey, 1936 received her degree. Before entering the veterinary college she had earned an arts degree from Cornell, studied for two years in medical school, and done a serious stint as a professional dog breeder, handler, and judge. Upon graduation she became the first female member of the New York City Veterinary Medical Association. In a 1938 article she declared, "Women can handle animals better than men, who, I think, lack something necessary for this difficult work."

Johanna Sutorious


Gertrude Kinsey