We want to honor the extraordinary life of Dr. Gladys Taylor McGarey, a visionary physician, pioneer of holistic medicine and the last living founder of the AIHM (then AHMA), who passed into her next life on September 28, 2024 at the age of 103 ¾. Gladys was widely regarded as the “Mother of Holistic Medicine” and cofounded the American Holistic Medical Association (the predecessor of the AIHM) along with Norm Shealy, Bill McGarey and Evarts Loomis.
Gladys was a force of nature…. always pursuing new dreams and projects that realized her vision of a united body, mind and soul approach to healing. I was lucky enough to meet Gladys in my 20’s and be inspired to by her example to pursue medical training and holistic medicine. In true Gladys fashion, when I was considering leaving medicine to stay home with my new baby, she said in no uncertain terms, “You find the friendliest training program you can, and you get your training and fulfill God’s purpose for you.” She was visionary, but fierce, having held down a community clinic and hospital in Ohio single-handedly, with three children under 6 years of age, while her husband, Bill, served as a physician in the US Air Force in World War II.
Her story is legendary, having been born in Northern India to medical missionary parents in 1920, Gladys grew up with a profound sense of purpose. Her early encounter with Mahatma Gandhi planted the seeds of her lifelong commitment to service and humanity. She struggled as a child with severe dyslexia, but as a consequence developed a creative and resilient spirit that propelled her through life. She moved to Ohio as a teenager and completed college and, inspired by her parents, enrolled at Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia. She met fellow medical student Bill McGarey and they married in 1943. At that time, there were very few women in medicine, and when Gladys interned at Deaconess Hospital in 1946, she had to sleep on the x-ray table, because they had no sleeping quarters for women, even when pregnant.
After Bill’s service in the Air Force ended, the McGarey clan moved to Arizona where they raised their 6 children and started a clinic. They both acknowledged the limits of conventional medicine to tend to the whole health of humans and were deeply influenced by the teachings of Edgar Cayce, a medical mystic, who along with the other transcendentalists contended that spiritual, psychological and social factors were as important as physical factors in determining someone’s health and well-being. Their clinic was the first of its kind, integrating these teachings with allopathic medical care. They also deeply explored Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture as well as homeopathy, and created the first license for the practice of acupuncture in the state of Arizona, to protect them and their colleagues from attempts from the AMA to take away their licenses. At this time, practitioners of holistic modalities (including physicians, chiropractors, osteopaths and indigenous healers) were under attack from the Allopathic Medical and legal establishment and in response to this, and in a real desire to share the exciting results they were having with heart-based medicine and these modalities, they began to meet with other leaders and co-founded the American Holistic Medical Association in 1978—the progenitor of the AIHM. Shortly thereafter, the AHNA (American Holistic Nursing Association) was formed. Gladys has remained an active inspiration and participant in our organization until her passing last month.
Gladys’s teachings were simple yet transformative – she championed the importance of love, laughter, and listening in the healing process. Her “five Ls” – life, love, laughter, labor, and listening – were not just professional principles but a philosophy for living fully. Dr. Taylor McGarey’s work helped shift the medical paradigm from merely treating symptoms to fostering a deep, holistic approach to healing. She believed every patient had the inner capacity to heal themselves, and she worked tirelessly to ignite that potential.
“Once you’re able to receive love, health and happiness will follow. Then the only natural response is to start spreading it to everyone you meet.”
Gladys continued to consult with patients into her late 90’s. I remember calling her and even recently, having a hard time finding time in her schedule, between friends, clients, and podcast interviews. She says that she “came into her own” in her 90’s, and indeed had great literary and social media success with her recent book: The Well-Lived Life, and its companion, The Well-Lived Life Workbook. She remained active through the last months of her life, walking, riding her bike, doing interviews and recording podcasts.
In addition to the The Well-Lived Life, over the course of her years, Gladys distilled her wisdom into several books, Living Medicine, Born to Live, and The World Needs Little Old Ladies, and in 2003, Gladys’ daughter Analea McGarey published Born to Heal—a comprehensive account of her mother’s truly epic life.
Her boundless optimism, curiosity, and resilience were infectious, inspiring countless people to lead healthier, more joyful lives. To her patients, friends, and readers, Dr. Taylor McGarey was more than a doctor, she was a healer, a mentor, and a source of endless hope. We will remember her not just for the lives she healed, but for the life she lived, a life of purpose, love, and unwavering belief in the power of the human spirit. Dr. Gladys Taylor McGarey, your light will continue to guide us and your teachings will continue to inspire us.
Rachel Carlton Abrams, Mimi Guarneri, Stephan Nobs, Bill Meeker and the entire AIHM Board
Per her family’s request, if Dr. Gladys touched your heart, please consider contributing to The Foundation for Living Medicine as it endeavors to manifest Gladys’ vision of a Village for Living Medicine and a community based on holistic principles.
