Support is Needed as Maude Callen Clinic is Rededicated to Honor the Life and Legacy of Episcopal Missionary

The Maude Callen Clinic in rural upper Berkeley County (Pineville, SC) was for decades the only source of proper healthcare for women and children throughout the community. Maude Callen, who came to South Carolina in 1923 as a missionary of The Episcopal Church, spent her life dedicated to the health and welfare of those around her, especially those who faced poverty and a serious lack of resources. She alone delivered more than 800 babies and taught midwifery to women in the community. After her death in 1990, the clinic building fell into disrepair, and it was nearly destroyed by the time a dedicated group of volunteers known as “Friends of Maude Callen” was able to obtain the property in 2018. Since that time, the group has worked tirelessly to restore the building, funded by grants, donations, and a tremendous amount of love for the life and legacy of Maude Callen. The building was rededicated on Friday, December 2, 2022 in a ceremony, but the need for additional work continues so that the building’s true purpose can be realized.

The Friends of Maude Callen, an organization under the 501c3 status of the Sumpter Free Health Clinic in Pineville, includes members of St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in St. Stephen, most notably, Libba Carroll, who serves as the leader of the group. “I have a great team that works with me and we are all passionate about what we do,” said Carroll.

Through their tireless volunteer efforts, the building is structurally sound again, with a roof and walls inside along the same footprint as when it was in service in the second half of the 20th century. The group was able to find a desk similar to what was originally in the clinic, and added a statue of Maude Callen sitting at a desk with the quote “Let me live in my house by the side of the road and be a friend to man.” Despite all of the work that has been done so far, there is more to be done. Carroll says the group would like for the building to become a resource center for public use for events centered on health education such as health fairs, or even as a place for community meetings. “Maude Callen wouldn’t want it to be a museum; she was all about serving the poor,” said Carroll.

The clinic does not have flooring, interior doors, running water, heat or air conditioning, and only has minimal electricity. The Friends of Maude Callen is also working, with the assistance of the South Carolina Archives, to obtain status for the clinic as a national historic landmark. The group welcomes donations to help them continue to tell the story of a woman who was truly the hands and feet of Jesus in the rural communities of upper Berkeley County. Donations can be sent to Sumpter Free Health Clinic at Post Office Box 340, St. Stephen, SC 29479 (designate for “Maude Callen Clinic” in the memo/note line).

Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley had scheduling conflicts that did not allow her to be present at the rededication event, but she enjoyed time spent at a recent visitation at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in St. Stephen, talking with members about the ceremony and learning more about the tremendous legacy of Nurse Maude Callen. She encourages everyone in the diocese to consider supporting all efforts to highlight a true angel of the Diocese of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church.

“I am thankful to the people of St. Stephen’s who have been instrumental in the community’s efforts to preserve this important part of history for this area of South Carolina and The Episcopal Church,” said Bishop Woodliff-Stanley. “Nurse Maude Callen, who began her career as a missionary for The Episcopal Church, improved the lives of countless women, children, and families in the Diocese of South Carolina and spent her life in service to those around her, particularly those living in historically marginalized communities. I fully support all efforts to preserve this important part of our diocese’s history, so we may continue to honor the amazing legacy of Maude Callen and tell her story for generations to come.”

The group is hopeful that as more people learn about Maude Callen, support will increase. Earlier this year, almost all six members of the Friends of Maude Callen went to Houston to see a play written by Martin Casella about Nurse Maude. The play centers on the nearly two months in 1951 that LIFE magazine photojournalist W. Eugene Smith spent with Callen as she brought health care to the small, impoverished community of Pineville. Performances were held at The George Theater in Houston, TX from September to October. Carroll said the play will debut in Chicago next year, and hopefully will make it to Broadway in the near future. 

After the holidays, Friends of Maude Callen welcomes groups of 10 or more to come to Pineville and tour the facility and learn more about Maude Callen and her tremendous impact on the local community. Tours can be scheduled by emailing Libba Carroll at [email protected].

About Maude Callen
Born in 1898 in Quincy, Florida to a family of 13 daughters (only three of whom survived), Maude Evelyn Daniel was orphaned before the age of 7 and raised by her uncle, Dr. William Gunn. As she helped her uncle care for his patients, she was inspired to pursue her own future in healthcare. After graduating from Florida A&M University, she attended the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where she earned a nursing degree. She wed William Dewer Callen in 1921, and they moved to Pineville two years later so she could serve as a medical missionary under the sponsorship of The Episcopal Church.

Upon arriving in this rural and impoverished part of northern Berkeley County, Maude Callen saw an immediate need for competent healthcare and she started a midwife practice in her home that lasted for 13 years (at the time, she was one of nine professionally-trained nurse midwives in South Carolina). Most of the residents of the area lacked education and transportation, and she was typically the primary healthcare provider, and teacher, for her patients.

She taught countless children how to read and write, held vaccination clinics in local schools, and distributed clothing and supplies to those without. She also helped transport the gravely ill to the very few hospitals that would treat African-American patients at the time. She started the county’s first venereal disease clinic and also supported clinics for ongoing nutrition.

In 1935, the Social Security Act established the Division of Maternal and Child Health; and Callen was employed as a public health nurse for Berkeley County. During this time, she trained hundreds of women in midwifery to ensure further dispersion of healthcare providers in the state. In the 1940s, Dr. Hilla Sheriff also joined the Division of Maternal and Child Health and worked with Callen to further educate midwives to provide medical care. Together, they secured the use of the historic Penn Center on St. Helena Island for their Midwife Training Institute. The program required midwives to return every four years to renew their licenses as a form of continuing education.

In 1951, she was featured in “LIFE Magazine” where the writer, W. Eugene Smith, described her as “the most fulfilled person I have ever known.” Because of the national attention the article provided, Callen received more than $20,000 in donations to build a proper clinic which is what was lovingly restored and rededicated on December 2, 2022. While she retired as a nurse in 1971, at the age of 73, she still cooked meals for local senior citizens and provided a car service for the elderly. The television show “On the Road with Charles Kuralt” profiled Callen in 1983 and stated, “At 85, Miss Maude serves meals each weekday to some 50 elderly residents, most of them younger than she is.”

Callen is quoted as having said, on turning down an invitation from President Reagan to visit the White House, “You can’t just call me up and ask me to be somewhere. I’ve got to do my job.” She continued to volunteer until she died in 1990 at the age of 92.

(Some biographical information about Maude Callen was excerpted from a Facebook post by Brandon Coffey. Most information and additional photos can also be found at this link. Photos are by Brandon Coffey, with one historical picture of the Clinic in a state of disrepair by Christine Jones.)