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.

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’s and Children’s Hospital. She remained in India for 5 1/2 years until illness necessitated a return to the United States.

GRACE M. ROOD Staff: Pine Mountain Settlement School

Following seven subsequent years with the Visiting Nurses Association of New Haven (Connecticut), Miss Rood came to the Pine Mountain Settlement School as a hospital nurse in 1936. A short article about Miss Rood appeared in the February 1938 issue of Pine Cone, the School’s student publication:

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.

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.

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, 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.

 According to the 1943 Notes from the Pine Mountain Settlement School, 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.

The 1943 Notes, an issue dedicated to the School’s medical work and staff, paid tribute to the doctors, nurses, and student aides, including Miss Rood:

…. 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.”

GRACE M. ROOD: After Pine Mountain

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’s outreach and mission programs and acted as deaconess into her late 80s. By then she was known by the Oakham community as the “Grand Old Lady who lives at the top of the hill.” Her house was located on part of a farm “at the top of Maple Street” owned by her great-grandfather, James C. Fairbank.

In 1962 she wrote to Fern Hayes, a 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:

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. 

See: GRACE ROOD Correspondence July 30, 1962, to Fern Hayes

GRACE M. ROOD STORIES

In addition to her “part-time jobs” Grace Rood  found time to write.  She was a wealth of information on the Pine Mountain communities she served so faithfully . Part folk-tales, part acute perceptions of the people and the places she encountered while nursing at Pine Mountain, her stories tell much about her as  a person and about her keen eye and ear. They capture the character of Rood most of all.

See: GRACE ROOD Stories

Mary Rogers, in her The Pine Mountain Story, describes the creation of the educational program:

Superficially the area on the north side of Pine Mountain changed little during the years 1930-1949. Now that there was a road over the mountain a few motor vehicles made their appearance in the thirties. Men were able to drive to work at distant logging camps, sawmills and mines. In the forties war’s demand for coal caused a boom in the coal industry. Miles of country roads were improved to carry coal from remote truck mines. Another road, a blacktop, crossed Pine Mountain eleven miles down the valley. Miners were receiving higher pay than ever before. Many skilled and unskilled workers were attracted by higher wages to leave the mountains. A number of the teaching force abandoned education for industry.

Reports on education in Harlan County at the end of the forties show that a high percentage of the children were not attending school at all, or that attendance was irregular. Prices for food and commodities, hence also for labor, had soared. It was hard to keep schoolhouses in repair. Listings show that many had no clean drinking water, or indoor toilets, and a few no facilities for washing hands. Many buildings had insufficient space and were fire hazards. Even more lacked adequate lighting and heating. Storage space, library books, lunchrooms, and playgrounds were generally absent. Some were staffed only intermittently and by emergency teachers who might have finished high school, but had no further training. The county was faced with a dilemma. Even if it could raise money to improve the school it was impossible to gauge population trends in the post-war slump. School buildings were rated “poor” or “fair” but opposite the name of the school in nearly every district was the entry “Decrease in population expected.” Would the school board be justified in spending public money on capital expenditure?

 

GRACE M. ROOD: Honors

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:

Spontaneous Tribute to Grace M. Rood, R.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.

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.

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.

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.

It is this impact that can be seen as you go down the list of graduates and realize the numerous lives she has touch.

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.”

Charlsie Vaughn Strealy [signature]

 In Miss Rood’s 89th year, the Town of Oakham dedicated its Annual Town Report to her and her lifetime achievements.

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Grace Margaret Rood was born on March 27, 1897, to Henry Martyn Rood and Grace Sarah Fairbank Mellen Rood, in Mt. Vernon, New York. She died on March 3, 1988, and was buried in Oakham, MA, Pine Grove Cemetery.

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GALLERY: GRACE M. ROOD Staff

TO SEE ADDITIONAL PHOTOGRAPHS

GRACE M. ROOD Photograph Album Gallery One
GRACE M. ROOD Photograph Album Gallery Two