{"id":7468,"date":"2017-04-13T00:02:43","date_gmt":"2017-04-13T04:02:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=7468"},"modified":"2017-04-13T00:02:43","modified_gmt":"2017-04-13T04:02:43","slug":"she-was-so-so-ill-and-i-didnt-know-what-to-do-for-her","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2017\/04\/13\/she-was-so-so-ill-and-i-didnt-know-what-to-do-for-her\/","title":{"rendered":"“She was so, so ill … and I didn’t know what to do for her”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rachel Poole was born in a Uniontown hospital on a mild December day in 1924. Her parents had migrated north from Virginia and settled\u00a0in a tiny Fayette County coal town called Revere. Rachel remembers watching her father John Johnson disappear into the earth with other miners, each carrying a lunch pail.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Centrella America Moon Johnson in an undated photograph. (Courtesy of Rachel Pool)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But it\u2019s the relationship with her mother that would shape Rachel\u2019s life. Centrella America Moon Johnson was a teacher in Virginia and valued education. \u201cI loved her dearly,\u201d Rachel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the third or fourth grade, my teacher sent a note with my report card. My mom read it and it said, ‘Rachel is the smartest kid in class.’ I didn\u2019t think about being smart or anything before that. \u00a0From then on, school was it for me.”<\/p>\n

When Rachel was 9, everything changed. Cancer had invaded her mother’s body.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was ill, so, so ill,\u201d Rachel said. \u201cAnd I didn\u2019t know what to do for her. I was allowed to give her medicine once a day. But I was scared. I didn\u2019t want to do anything wrong. She cried and I just didn\u2019t know what to do.”<\/p>\n

One day Rachel came home from school and her mother was gone. She’d been taken to a hospital. Rachel\u00a0was told she was too young to visit.<\/p>\n

“I never saw her again. That\u2019s something no one will understand — how horrible that was. You don\u2019t know how much that hurt me, not knowing where she was. She died not long after. That stuck with me and influenced much of what happened in my life. That\u2019s why I became a nurse.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A <\/a>
A young Rachel Poole. (Courtesy of Rachel Poole) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rachel <\/a>
Rachel Poole as a nurse with daughters Tenache and Adriene. (Courtesy of Rachel Poole) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Rachel moved in\u00a0with an aunt and uncle in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Westinghouse High School\u00a0as co-valedictorian, Rachel yearned to study nursing at the University of Pittsburgh. She was told the school did not accept black students.<\/p>\n

World War II changed that. \u201cThe government jumped in,\u201d Rachel said. \u201cThe war was red hot. And they said, \u2018You have to admit some blacks to the nursing school as long as they\u2019re qualified.\u2019 And we were qualified.”<\/p>\n

In 1943, Rachel became one of the first three black students admitted to Pitt\u2019s nursing program. All three graduated in 1947.<\/p>\n

\"Marion <\/a>
Marion and Rachel Poole on their wedding day. (Courtesy of Rachel Poole) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Marion <\/a>
Marion and Rachel Poole during an overseas trip. (Courtesy of Rachel Poole) <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Two years later, Rachel met Marion Poole, a Schenley High School graduate who\u2019d grown up in the Hill District.<\/p>\n

\u201cI met him when he was working for the welfare agency and we got married,” Rachel said. “I was working on my master\u2019s degree. He had earned part of his bachelor\u2019s. I said, \u2018We\u2019re not going to make it if I have all the education, so you\u2019re going to have to get on the ball.’ I was a bit bossy about that. Then I said to him, \u2018Who\u2019s going to get their Ph.D. first? Why don\u2019t you get yours first?\u2019 He got it quick. He was as smart as could be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rachel became the first director of nursing at Western Psychiatric in 1964. She served in that capacity for a decade. She earned a doctorate in education and taught nursing at Pitt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Rachel Poole in 2017. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today Rachel lives in the Hill District with her daughter Tenache Golden. A few years ago, she wrote\u00a0a children\u2019s book, \u201cThe Girl with Green Bean Hair.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of Rachel’s character was shaped by her own childhood experiences. Not all were tragic. She recalled a moment in the mid-1930s, when her aunt took to see a doctor:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018You have a bad heart. It doesn\u2019t beat quite right, and it\u2019s large. You can\u2019t be running around. You have to be quiet, you have to be sitting down. You can\u2019t be like the other kids.’<\/p>\n

\u201cI followed his advice for one day. Then I said, ‘Why am I sitting around?’ So I started running again. And I\u2019m 92 years old, so there you go.\u201d<\/p>\n

— Steve Mellon<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tragedy inspired Rachel Poole to take a groundbreaking path.<\/p>\n

Look at the pictures“She was so, so ill … and I didn’t know what to do for her”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":7476,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1368],"tags":[959,1034,1036,1050],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/RachelPool003a.jpg?fit=2000%2C1455&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2478,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/27\/rachel-carson\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":0},"title":"Rachel Carson","date":"September 27, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"\u201dMiss Carson tells how man for the first time in history has acquired a significant power to alter the nature of his world.\"","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_mazbpk3pv01rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=854%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2481,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/27\/publication-of-rachel-carsons-silent-spring\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":1},"title":"Publication of Rachel Carson\u2019s \u201cSilent Spring\u201d","date":"September 27, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"\"Every thinking man and woman should read \u2018Silent Spring.\"","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/tumblr_mazclqZOqj1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=726%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2475,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/09\/28\/oct-29-1964-sen-goldwater-in-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":7468,"position":2},"title":"Sen. 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