Dr. Paul B. Killian (1872−1949) was one of Clay County’s most dedicated and beloved doctors, serving the medical needs of the people for 52 years. He was “one of the outstanding ear, eye, nose, and throat specialists in the state” (Sharpe, Ibid.). During his long career he worked with other local doctors in promoting vaccines and inoculations that would wipe out typhoid fever and other communicable diseases, which one time plagued the County. During his early practice, he rode horseback to make house calls. His daughter, Mrs. Ora McGlamery, in a 1994 interview said, “Sometimes in freezing weather he would come home frozen to the saddle!” She also said, “Father would be away from home days at time with patients who were gravely sick” (Clay County Heritage, North Carolina, Volume I, 1994). He also found time to serve Clay County people as their State Representative for two years in the North Carolina Legislature−one in 1915 and again in 1931. And he delivered babies at home, including this Author and his sisters, and was their family doctor. As children, it was a common occurrence to visit his office for shots and medication—that awful-tasting red medicine concocted in his lab! Dr. Killian’s office, once located on Chatuge Dam Road, was donated by the Killian−McGlamery families to the Clay County Historical and Arts Council and was moved intact to the Clay County Museum for permanent display.
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