"GOD SENT HER TO HEAL WITH A HEART AS BIG AS TEXAS" 

Carolyn Beatrice Hammond Montier, M.D., was a skilled Obstetrician, Gynecologist and Psychiatrist. She combined her amazing understanding of neurology, endocrinology and the human spirit with her impenetrable faith in "God's Promise", to help an unprecedented number of people of all ages, races, religions, occupations and socioeconomic strata. She helped them to find hope, wellness and for some, a reason to live another day. 

In the 55 years of Dr. Carolyn's remarkable medical career, she treated professional athletes, dignitaries and celebrities. She worked with death row inmates, trained policeman at the academy, ran an addictions clinic, and helped abused women find their way back. She even made house calls. She skillfully bonded with people to heal them, with deep love, integrity and generosity. She never refused to take a patient's call or turn the uninsured person away. Many of those same people would bring her their favorite pot of greens or offer to do odd jobs around the house just to show their thanks! She would always reassure them saying, "I don't know what the future holds…but I do know who holds the future!" or "God is not dead and He is not on vacation either!" 

Carolyn, affectionately known as "Bee-Bee", was born May 26, 1925 and raised on a farm-like compound in Bryan, Texas. Like a true Texan she wore cowboy boots, churned butter, rode horses and raised chickens. She played the guitar, accordion, piano and saxophone and sang country music with her family. 

She graduated high school, as valedictorian, at 16 years of age. Then entered Howard University where she received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry, with a minor in Physical Education. Carolyn consistently challenged the status quo by rising to the top of her class of mostly male chemistry majors and by graduating magna cum laude in 1945. When challenged by racism, she was arrested for refusing to sit at the back of a Washington DC bus. Her passion for helping people led her to Howard University College of Medicine, where she graduated second in her class, and specialized in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She was then selected for a research fellowship in Paris, France. During that time she toured Europe and even viewed the remains at Auschwitz, the infamous German concentration camp. Her most daring achievement was marrying her beloved, Juan "Monty" Montier (1949), starting a family and living in Germany during the Korean War as an army wife. She embraced the European culture, buying her first child tiny wooden shoes from Holland and learning to speak fluent French and German. 

In order to receive better medical care Carolyn returned to Bryan, Texas in 1955 expecting her second child, leaving her husband in Germany to complete his tour of service and finish his surgical residency in New York. While in Bryan, she worked alongside her father, Dr. William A. Hammond Sr., who opened Bryan's first black hospital. Then with two young children in tow, she moved to Connecticut and went on to become the first black woman to earn an additional degree in Psychiatry from Yale University in 1957. 

Finally, Carolyn and Monty settled in Cleveland, Ohio for nearly 40 years where they practiced medicine and raised five children. Happily referring to her children as "her five gifts", she created neighborhood backyard plays complete with lemonade and popcorn stands, made all birthday parties special, and had a few "Lucy Shows" while on family vacations. She told bedtime stories, baked delicious cheese cakes and could fry the crispiest chicken while balancing the demands of piano and swimming lessons and getting all seven to church before the sermon started. All of that while suffering with a serious rheumatic heart condition, she never complained, always saw the glass half full, always blessed. 

In addition to her own private practice, Dr. Carolyn Montier has cared for patients as Clinical Director of Southeast Cleveland Community Mental Health Center, Medical Director of Woodruff Hospital, on the medical staffs of Ridgecliff Hospital, Cleveland State, Fairhill, the Cleveland Guidance Center, Mt. Pleasant Community Health Center, Murtis Taylor Mental Health Center, the Cleveland Job Corps, and Lima State Prison. She had teaching appointments for several social agencies and Psychiatric Aids. Nationally, she worked as interim medical director through CompHealth locum tenums. Her long-time love affair with the Cleveland community included serving Catholic Charities, NAACP, Urban League, Glen Oak School, and many, many more; affiliations include National Medical Association and Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Penned by her "Five Gifts" (Abridged)