"Maude E.Callen" (November 8,1898-January 23,1990)

Was a nurse-midwife in the South Carolina Lowcountry for over 60 years.Her work was brought to national attention in W,Eugene Smith's photo essay,"Nurse Midwife,"published in Life in December 1951.She was born in Quincy Florida.Maude had twelve sisters and was orphaned by the age of six.She was brought up in the home of her uncle Dr.William J.Gunn,a physician in Tallahassee,Florida.Maude devoted her life to nursing in some of the most poverty-stricken areas in the southern United States.She graduated from Florida A& M College in 1922 and later completed a nursing degree at Tuskegee University in Alabama.By 1923,she had set up her own practice as a nurse-midwife in Berkeley County,one of the poorest in South Carolina at the time.She received additional training from the Georgia infirmary in Savannah and in tuberculosis care at the Homer G.Philips Hospital in St.Louis,Missouri.She married William D.Callen in 1921 and they moved together to Pineville,South Carolina,when she was called as a missionary nurse.In 1923,Maude moved to Pineville,Berkeley County,South Carolina as an Episcopal Missionary nurse.The position was intended to be temporary.She was one of only nine nurses-midwives in South Carolina at the time.She operated a community clinic out of  her home,which was miles from any hospital."It is estimated she delivered between six hundred and eight hundred babies in her six years of  practice.In addition to providing medical services,Maude taught women from the community to be midwives.She provided in-home services to "an area of some 400 square miles veined with muddy roads," serving as "doctor,dietitian,psychologist,bail-goer,and friends to thousands of poor (most of them desperately poor) patients-only two percent of whom were white.   Conditions in Berkeley County were difficult:"[A]t the edge of Hell Hole Swamp in Pineville houses were still lit by were by oil lamps,not electricity.Not having power lines meant no telephones,and people went to town by wagon or buggy."Maude recalled that there were only two cars in Berkeley County none of the reads were paved.Many of patients arrived at her home in oxcarts on the middle of the night.
"[Maude] frequently had to park her car and walk through mud,woods,and creeks to reach her patients.
In 1936,she joined the Berkeley County Health Department as a public health nurse.Her job included training midwives throughout the county.Maude taught young African American women the proper practices in prenatal care,labor support,baby delivery,and handling of newborns.Her duties included vaccinations,examinations,and keeping records on the children's eyes and teeth.In December 1951,Life magazine published a twelve-page photographic essay of Maude's work by the celebrated photojournalist,W.Eugene Smith.He spent weeks with Maude at her clinic and on her rounds in the community.Eugene is quoted as saying the photographs he took of Maude were the "most rewarding of  all [his] work" and that Maude was "the most completely fulfilled person I have known.On publication of the photo-essay,readers donated more than $20,000 to support Maude's work in in Pineville.As a result,the Maude E.Callen opened in 1953.Maude ran the clinic until her retirement from public health duties in 1971. (it closed in 1986.)
 After her retirement in 1971,Maude petitioned county officials to start a Senior Citizens Nutrition Site,which operated starting in 1980,out of the clinic.As a volunteer,Maude managed the center,which cooked and delivered meals five days a week,and provided car service to seniors needing transportation.A local news article stated:"A85 Miss Maude serves meals each week to some 50 elederly residents,most of them younger than she is.She is quoted as having said,onturning down an ivitation from President Reagan to visit,the White House,"You can't just me up and ask me to be somewhere .I've got to do my job.Maude continued her volunteer work until her death.