The Life and Times of Nurse Maude Callen

03/21/2026

The Maude Callen Clinic will be represented at this community event, March 26. The Maude Callen Clinic was acquired by the Sumpter Free Health Clinic 501c3 in 2017. After many years of intense efforts we realized the building's restoration and the Clinic being named to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023/2024. Our goal and our mission is for it to remain a viable part of the community as an interpretative center for the work and legacy of the late Maude Callen and also a community resource center. The building is now under the care of Redeemer Church that stands directing adjacent to the Clinic. Our community involvement continues. See you on the 26 th

10/03/2025

For more than 60 years, Maude Callen walked through mud, woods, and creeks to bring life and hope to the people of South Carolina. A nurse-midwife with no hospital, only a small clinic in her home, she delivered hundreds of babies and cared for countless families who would have had no help without her.

She wasn’t just a nurse. She was healer, counselor, protector — often the only one standing between life and tragedy. To her community, she was an angel.

In 1951, her story reached the world through Life magazine, where photographer W. Eugene Smith called her “the most completely fulfilled person I have ever known.”

Even after retiring, she refused to stop. She opened a center for the elderly, feeding and transporting seniors five days a week — all as a volunteer. When invited to the White House, she declined, saying simply: “I’ve got to do my job.”

Maude Callen never sought fame or fortune. She left behind something greater: generations of lives touched by her compassion.

A reminder that greatness is not always loud. Sometimes, it’s a quiet woman walking barefoot through the dark to deliver hope.

👇 Full story in the comments.

09/18/2025

The George Bishop Memorial Park part of the Maude Callen Clinic complex is almost complete. Thank you Santee Cooper.

07/23/2025

We enjoyed the visit from Keep Berkeley Beautiful! Thank you for your interest

Thanks so much to the Friends of Maude Callen for hosting our visit to the restored clinic site this morning. You really need to visit that site to understand the great strides that group has made toward conserving Nurse Maude's legacy.

02/17/2025

Help us always to remember this great lady, and all of her good work......

Maude Callen was born in Quincy, Florida in 1898 but spent over 60 years in Berkeley County serving as a nurse-midwife. Mrs. Callen graduated from Florida A&M College and completed her nursing coursework at the Tuskegee Institute. In 1923, she was was called as an Episcopal missionary nurse to set up a practice in Pineville, SC. At the time, she was one of only nine nurse-midwives in the entire state. In 1936, she became a public health nurse with the Berkeley County Health Dept. and continued to train young black women as midwives. In 1951, Life Magazine published a photo essay of her work. As a result, readers donated thousands of dollars to support her clinic and she was able to open the Maude E. Callen Clinic in Pineville, which operated from 1953-1986. Mrs. Callen retired in 1971 but continued to serve the people of Berkeley County until her death in 1990. In her lifetime, she delivered over 800 babies and was honored by Governor Riley with the Order of the Palmetto for her public service.