By Lee Pierre
“Work with people along the way. If you can’t help them, don’t hinder them!” This and other life lessons from Wyatt Smith were bestowed upon his inquisitive granddaughter, Mavis who credits both Wyatt and Mary Elizabeth Smith and her mother with laying an altruistic foundation for her at an early age.
The farm in Franklin County where Mavis Claytor-Ford grew up was where her great-grandparents had lived in slavery. Wyatt Smith who had grown up during slavery time bought the land. Farming was not easy therefore everyone including the children was responsible for their share of the work.
“My grandparents had a garden and raised livestock that provided our food,” Claytor-Ford said. She reminisced on taking care of the garden as well as helping can the crops once they had been picked, caring for the livestock, chickens, cows, pigs, goats, and horses as well as carrying buckets of water from the spring because the house did not have running water or electricity.
“The eggs, butter, and other foods that needed refrigeration were kept in the ‘spring house,’” she said, a small shed that had troughs allowing the spring water to run through thereby keeping the food from perishing.
“I did not like farm work and looked forward to attending school. If you stayed home, you had to work all day – I had perfect attendance, as I loved learning,” Claytor-Ford stated. “My grandmother used old newspapers as wallpaper and when there I would try to read everything that was on her walls and was eager for more.”
Her mother and grandparents read the Bible to all the children instilling the importance of being good to self and your fellow man. “My grandfather instilled in us wonderful values, taught us to love ourselves, love others and not to criticize others.”
Mavis was one of 7 children born to George and Lucy Claytor who bought farmland adjacent to her grandfather’s property. George was the son of Peter and Nettie Claytor who also lived in Franklin County until Nettie moved to Detroit after her husband died. Mavis’ mother and her older siblings worked the land while her father sought higher paying jobs in Ohio and Detroit to better provide for his family. One Christmas, the children received a red wagon that all the children on the farm had to share.
“The other children liked riding the wagon through the cornfields down the hill into the creek, but I didn’t like doing that. I told my grandfather that when he asked why I wasn’t playing with the others,” Claytor-Ford recalled.
Being the astute man he was, he informed her, ‘You don’t have to follow what everyone else was doing. Go the way you want to go, and you’ll be in charge.’ When it was her turn to ride, she did just that and has been making her own way ever since.
One of her other responsibilities that she truly loved was caring for her ailing grandmother. It was her duty to feed her and get her to bed. She would spend the night to be there to get her up and fed before heading to school.
“I enjoyed being with her until she had a stroke. Then I became afraid,” Claytor-Ford recalled. “I felt helpless because I didn’t know what to do.”
When her fear made her unable to continue tending to her grandmother, her uncle, and aunt took her grandmother to their home. It was at that point that she gave up her dream of being a teacher and decided to become a nurse. She began her training at Provident Hospital in Baltimore leaving home for the first time.
“It was a cultural shock. I had never been off the farm,” she said. “No one spoke to me as I walked down the streets. There were just sidewalks and no greenery.” She said she was homesick to the point that she once cried when she did finally see shrubbery. She also refused to eat causing her to become ill. The Director of Nursing visited her at the hospital and whispered motivating words to her: ‘If you don’t eat, you’re going to be on the next bus back home.’ That was all she needed to hear.
After earning her licensed practical nursing certificate, she worked briefly as a surgical nurse in Roanoke but desired more training. She was accepted into the University of Virginia’s nursing program, but when she arrived on campus in 1968, the dormitory staff refused to allow her a room. With assistance from the nursing dean, she secured housing and refused to let the setback deter her and became one of the first African Americans to earn a bachelor’s degree in nursing from the university when she graduated in 1970 then went on to earn a master’s in nursing in 1985. She answered a ‘call for papers’ (a communication sent by a conference organizer to the academic community representing a field of study) that allotted her the opportunity to travel to England to present her research findings on Alzheimer’s!
Claytor-Ford was one of the first Black professional nurses employed at the university’s hospital. She worked for 10 years in public health at Roanoke City Health Department and later enjoyed a successful career at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem as Supervisor of the Nursing Home Care unit. Focused on geriatric care, Claytor-Ford encouraged pet therapy and participated in a study of the effects of light and sound stimuli on the behavior of Alzheimer’s patients at the center. Her concern for patients’ personal care led her to collaborate with a Virginia Tech project to test the accessibility of modular bathroom components. She retired as the chief nurse for geriatrics and extended care after more than three decades at the Salem Veterans Affairs Medical Center and continues her benevolent work by serving on boards of several organizations, being an active member in the church, and providing care for family members as well as many others.
“My grandfather taught me to be compassionate, and, of course, a lot about farming and caring for the animals there,” she proudly remarked.
