{"id":2472,"date":"2013-11-02T00:17:48","date_gmt":"2013-11-02T04:17:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getitright.pmss.net\/?page_id=2472"},"modified":"2021-04-30T15:39:46","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T19:39:46","slug":"grace-m-rood","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/staging.pinemountainsettlement.net\/?page_id=2472","title":{"rendered":"GRACE M. ROOD"},"content":{"rendered":"
Pine Mountain Settlement School
\nSeries 09: Biography – Staff\/Personnel
\nSeries 14: Medical, Health & Hygiene<\/h5>\n

GRACE M. ROOD,\u00a0<\/span>Nurse & Superintendent of the Infirmary, 1936 – 1962<\/span><\/h2>\n
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TAGS:<\/strong> Grace M. Rood ;\u00a0Oberlin College ;\u00a0Johns Hopkins School for Nurses ;\u00a0nurses ; health clinics ; nurse training ; medical education ; visiting nurses ; public health nursing ; Infirmary ; Student Volunteer Union ; missionaries ; South Africa ; Oakham (MA) Congregational Church ; India ; Women’s and Children’s Hospital ; Visiting Nurses Association of New Haven ; The Pine Cone ; Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School ; Annual Town Reports ; 1983 Homecoming brochure ; Glyn Morris ; Tomorrow’s Children\u00a0Kentucky Conference ; Barry Bingham ; J. Wesley Hatcher ;<\/p>\n

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\"Grace

Grace Rood, R.N., with patient. [pmss_archives_rood.jpg]<\/p><\/div>For most of her life, Grace M. Rood took care of people. This was particularly true during her years at the Pine Mountain Settlement School, where she was a nurse and then superintendent in charge of the Infirmary, serving patients all over the backcountry in her trusty four-wheel-drive Jeep.<\/p>\n

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Miss Rood was born on March 27, 1897, to Henry Martyn Rood and Grace Sarah Fairbank Mellen Rood, in Mt. Vernon, New York, Soon after, her family moved to Port Chester, New York. There she attended elementary and high school. In 1919, the year she graduated with a B.A. from Oberlin (Ohio) College, she decided on a nursing career and attended Johns Hopkins School for Nurses in Baltimore, Maryland. While there she joined the Student Volunteer Union, a group interested in becoming missionaries. Her inspiration was likely from both sets of her grandparents who did missionary work in South Africa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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After graduation from Johns Hopkins in 1923 with an R.N. degree, she spent a year as a visiting nurse in her hometown of Port Chester before receiving a commission from the Oakham (Massachusetts) Congregational Church to work overseas as a missionary. On October 1, 1924, she left for southern India to become the superintendent of nurses and principal of the training school at the Women\u2019s and Children\u2019s Hospital. She remained in India for 5 1\/2 years until illness necessitated a return to the United States.<\/p>\n

Grace M. Rood – Pine Mountain Settlement School<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Following seven subsequent years with the Visiting Nurses Association of New Haven (Connecticut), Miss Rood came to the Pine Mountain Settlement School as a\u00a0hospital nurse in 1936. A short\u00a0article about\u00a0Miss Rood appeared\u00a0in the February 1938 issue<\/a> of Pine Cone<\/em>, the School’s\u00a0student publication:<\/p>\n

As the nurse, Miss Grace M. Rood is responsible for the health of the school, supervises the community class, makes calls in each district, and receives patients from the outside. Besides this she conducts a class twice a week in practical nursing, has already made a talk in assembly on the common cold and tells delightful stories of her adventures in India.<\/em><\/p>\n

Miss Rood is a graduate of Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, and of John[s] Hopkins Nursing School in Baltimore, Maryland. She taught nursing at Madura, South India, did visiting nursing and social work another five years in New Haven, Conn., and last year studied Public Health Nursing at Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In February of 1940, Director Glyn Morris<\/a> recommended Grace Rood as a speaker at a conference to be held on March 30, 1940, In Louisville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Conference was an outgrowth of the Southern Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, that took place the previous year on the same subject. The theme of the conferences was \u201cTomorrow\u2019s Children,\u201d named after a book of the same title by Professor Ellsworth Huntington of Yale University. The objective was to <\/span>further plan and stimulate thinking about the needs of children in the rural South.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wesley Hatcher, Dept. of Sociology, Berea (Kentucky) College stated in his March 17, 1940 letter to Miss Rood the reasons the conference steering committee was happy to include Miss Rood:<\/span><\/p>\n

Your wide acquaintance with the economic, cultural and psychological background of the people of the mountains and your intimate and vital contact with individuals and families qualify you in a very unusual way to lead such a discussion\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Barry Bingham, publisher of the <\/span>Courier-Journa<\/span><\/i>l and the <\/span>Louisville Times,<\/span><\/i> presided over the meeting. Miss Rood lead the discussion that centered on child health problems in Eastern Kentucky and the future of those children. She was joined by representative speakers in the fields of medicine, sociology and welfare whose work enabled them to contribute to constructive thinking about the problems of tomorrow\u2019s children.<\/span><\/p>\n

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By 1943, Miss Rood became superintendent of nurses at PMSS and remained in that position until her retirement in 1962. Among her duties was training senior girls in community medical services. The trainees’ education included helping at the Infirmary,<\/a> caring for newborns, keeping medical records, traveling with the doctor on house calls, giving inoculations in the district schools and rendering first aid. The training and experience the students received often inspired them to continue their nursing studies at accredited schools.<\/p>\n

\u00a0According to the\u00a01943 Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School<\/em>, <\/a>the Infirmary, consisting of 10 beds, was “the only medical center for an area covering 400 square miles.” The center provided medical care for the School staff and students, as well as some 250 families in the community.<\/p>\n

The 1943\u00a0Notes,<\/em>\u00a0an issue dedicated to the School’s medical work and staff, paid tribute to the doctors, nurses, and student aides, including Miss Rood:<\/p>\n

…. The continuity of the work has been maintained by the faithfulness of Miss Grace Rood… Each year has endeared her more to our people. We can but echo a neighbor’s tribute “I say Miss Rood’s the queen of all.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Grace M. Rood – After Pine Mountain<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n
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Upon retiring, she returned to Oakham to help her sister Emily and brother Chester care for their mother. She remained active in Oakham organizations, particularly those of the Oakham Congregational Church where she taught Sunday School, worked in the church\u2019s outreach and mission programs and acted as deaconess into her late 80s. By then she was known by the Oakham community as the \u201cGrand Old Lady who lives at the top of the hill.\u201d Her house was located on part of a farm \u201cat the top of Maple Street\u201d owned by her great-grandfather, James C. Fairbank.<\/p>\n

In 1962 she wrote to Fern Hayes<\/a>,\u00a0a former secretary at Pine Mountain, about life after Pine Mountain. The letter is typical of her ongoing correspondence with staff at the School and many in the community. In the letter she says:<\/p>\n

I am not looking forward to completely stopping work, and am looking around for some odd part time jobs to do around here for at least till the end of the year.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

See: GRACE ROOD LETTER – July 30, 1962, to Fern Hayes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Miss Rood was honored by the PMSS Association of Alumni & Friends when she attended the 1983 Homecoming at age 86, with this page in the Homecoming brochure:<\/p>\n

Spontaneous Tribute to Grace M. Rood, R.N.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"1983

1983 10th Annual Homecoming at PMSS, page 2. [1983_homecoming_0021.jpg]<\/p><\/div>\n

Grace M. Rood, R.N., who was the school nurse from 1937-49 (sic), returned to Pine Mountain at the age of 86 for the annual Homecoming with her usual enthusiasm.<\/em><\/p>\n

Miss Rood’s spirit was evident by the crowds of people from the community who lined up to greet her. This was heartwarming to her, as it showed the results of her efforts to involve the community with the school.<\/em><\/p>\n

A comment overheard on Saturday was that if one could have seen the long line of people waiting to visit Grace Rood, one would have thought indeed, this was a reception for her! In a way, it was, without neglecting all the other people who have contributed so much to the growth and continuation of the goals and ideals of Pine Mountain School.<\/em><\/p>\n

Just as important as the many girls she encouraged to go into nursing was the interest, love and guidance she gave to the other students, many of whom she has visited and kept in contact with throughout the years.<\/em><\/p>\n

It is this impact that can be seen as you go down the list of graduates and realize the numerous lives she has touch.<\/em><\/p>\n

In summary of this years’ Homecoming we have to say, “Grace Rood, we salute you, and love you just as we know you love every one of us.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Charlsie Vaughn Strealy<\/em><\/a>
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\u00a0In Miss Rood\u2019s 89th year, the Town of Oakham dedicated its Annual Town Report to her and her lifetime achievements.<\/p>\n

Grace Margaret Rood died on March 3, 1988, and was buried in Oakham’s Pine Grove Cemetery.<\/p>\n

See Also GRACE M. ROOD CORRESPONDENCE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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GALLERY – GRACE M. ROOD<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\t\t