Mae Best ("Bessie")

On November 4,1921 at 2am in Halifax county North Carolina, my Mother entered this world, her name was Mamie Belle.  Later in life my mother was also known as Mae or Bessie by her friends,  neighborhood kids called her "Aunt Mae"!

If ever you were hungry or needed clothing, you could always go to "Aunt Mae", she was always willing to help those in need.  Many of the neighborhood women still tell me about how she was their nurse when their children were born and how she helped them bathe and care for the new baby, many of those baby's are now adults with their own children!

In the late 1960"s The Harvard Community Health Plan was founded by Grass Roots members of the neighborhood of Mission Hill. Mae Best, Ruth Hemmingway,Betty Cummerford, Mel King,Chip Kazenak,Mary Tupalian, John and Evelyn Lopes, Elenor and Ralph Evans, the list goes on. Today some of those folks are gone, but they left a legacy of caring and giving back to the community, making life better for the rest of us.

There are many memories of my mother dragging me to those meetings that I found so boring at age twelve, but now I can appreciate all the hard work and hours that she and many of our neighbors volunteered to create quality affordable health care for our community.