The Claude Lee Pennington Collection is comprised of documents, photographs, medical instruments and other items that belonged to father and son physicians, Claude Lee Pennington, Sr. (1891-1949) and Claude Lee Pennington, Jr. (1927-2013).

Claude Lee Pennington, Sr., M.D. was born near Wrens, Georgia in 1891 to Marcus and Cornelia Pennington. He attended the Academy of Richmond County in Augusta, Georgia and graduated from the Medical College of Georgia in 1912, which was officially known then as the University of Georgia Medical Department. He as a member of the Alpha Chapter of the Chi Zeta Chi fraternity.

After his medical school graduation Claude, Sr. practiced general medicine in Dearing, Georgia for ten months before he decided to specialize in Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat. He served his internship in New York; one year at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary and two years at the Brooklyn Eye and Ear Hospital. During his time in New York, Claude Sr. perfected a method of nasal operation which reduced operating time by utilizing an instrument he designed. This instrument came to be known as the Pennington Elevator.

Claude Sr. established his career as an Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist in Macon, Georgia in 1917. Though he was deferred from service due to the lack of specialists at home, he was commissioned in the U.S. Army Officers’ Reserved Corps in January 1918. He was one of the original owners of the Williams Sanatorium, which later became the Middle Georgia Hospital. Claude Sr. was the senior attending Eye and ENT specialist at the Macon Hospital and the Middle Georgia Hospital. His skill in bronchoscopic work was considered advanced and superior. He earned his credentials from the American Board of Otolaryngology in 1927 when he passed the Board’s requirements and examinations.

Due to ill health, Claude Sr. retired from medical practice in 1933. He continued to assist the Macon medical community by serving on the Executive Committee and the Commission of the Macon Hospital. He also served as president of the MCG Alumni Association in 1933 and kept himself informed on the progress of his alma mater.

Dr. Claude Lee Pennington, Sr. died on February 21, 1949 at University Hospital in Augusta, Georgia. He was survived by his wife Evelyn Adams Pennington and two sons, Claude, Jr. and Fred Adams Pennington.

Dr. Claude Lee Pennington, Jr. was born on November 10, 1927 in Macon, Georgia. He received his early education in the public schools of Bibb County before graduating from the Darlington School in Rome, Georgia in 1944. He attained the status of Eagle Scout at age 13.

Claude Jr. earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Medicine from Mercer University. Following his father’s path, he matriculated to the Medical College of Georgia. While a student at MCG he became a member of the Chi Alpha Chapter of the Phi Rho Sigma fraternity. At the age of 21, and less than four months after the death of his father, Claude Jr. graduated from MCG in 1949.

He completed a one year internship at the Macon Hospital (now the Medical Center of Central Georgia) and a six month residency in medicine at University Hospital (Augusta) in 1950. During the Korean War, Claude Jr. served in the U.S. Air Force Medical Corp with the rank of Captain. From 1953 to 1955, he trained in otolaryngology as a resident at the Presbyterian Hospital in New York City (now the Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center). He obtained additional post graduate training at the Lempert Institute of Otology in New York City.

Claude Jr. established his otolaryngology practice in Macon, Georgia in late 1956 as the first physician of the ENT Medical Group (now the ENT Center of Central Georgia). He earned his credentials from the American Board of Otolaryngology in 1957. In 1963 he founded the Central Georgia Speech and Hearing Center, a non-profit community agency that provided speech and hearing services for the severely handicapped children and adults.

For fifteen years, he taught students from MCG. Later he was appointed as the first professor of Otolaryngology at the newly established Mercer University School of Medicine. He was named an Emeritus Professor at Mercer SOM in 1990 upon his retirement.

Claude, Jr. taught interns and surgical residents at the Medical Center of Central Georgia for thirty-one years. While on staff at the Medical Center, he served in various capacities including Chief of Otolaryngology and Chairman of the Surgical Section of the Medical Staff. For five years he served on the Medical Center’s Executive Committee. He was elected Chief of Staff of the Medical Center of Central Georgia in 1989.

Claude Jr. was recognized in the Southeast as a pioneer in reconstruction microsurgery of the middle ear. He wrote numerous articles regarding surgical techniques during his years of active practice. He served on the board of examiners for speech pathology and audiology for the state of Georgia. He co-wrote with DeGraaf Woodman the instruction section course on vocal cord surgery for the American Academy of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology.

As a member in state and national professional organizations, Claude, Jr. served in leadership roles as president of the Georgia Society of Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology, 1967 and as president of the American Council of Otolaryngology, 1972-1974. He was a Fellow in the Triological Society, the American Otological Society, the American Neurotology Society, and the American Laryngological Association, which granted him Fellow Emeritus status in 1992.

Dr. Claude Lee Pennington, Jr. died on July 27, 2013 at his home in Macon, Georgia. He was survived by his wife of thirty-seven years, Kay Ricks Pennington, his son Claude Lee Pennington III, his daughter Evelyn P. Olsen, and two grandchildren.