Marie Howard

Zoom interview by Michael S. Williams

Image by Julia Wall

Class of 1972

Taking a cue from her older sister, Marie Howard decided the field of nursing was for her. "After she came out, I saw how well she was doing, and I liked helping people ... I said I'll see if I get in, too."

Though Howard and her sister, Betty Dial, both started at Kate Bitting Reynolds Memorial Hospital School of Nursing, the younger sister didn't graduate from the all-Black program. Instead, she was sent to Forsyth Memorial Hospital when Katie B. closed in 1970. "This was the first time I was really in a predominantly white environment," she said. "That was a new experience."

A graduate of the 1972 class, Howard said she started at Katie B. and had "no idea" her school would be closing. "At the time I found out, I was in Goldsboro doing my psych internship," she said. That internship was at Cherry Hospital, which opened in 1880 for Black citizens navigating mental illness.

Even though Howard didn't graduate from Kate Bitting, she still remembers how special it was and how the memories are forever with her. There was a particular "camaraderie," she said. When Howard graduated, she returned to her hometown, Charlotte, and worked in the burn unit at Charlotte Memorial Hospital where her sister also worked. Her career spanned four decades.