Local farm family to compile oral histories

Perri Meldon and Franco Paz are UVM  graduate students in history who will compile the oral histories of Lydia Clemmons (R.N. and Certified Licensed Nurse Anesthetist) and Jackson Clemmons (M.D., Ph.D.). Their work is funded through a joint collaboration between the Clemmons Family Farm, the University of Vermont and the University of Wisconsin. Courtesy photo.

The University of Vermont and the University of Wisconsin partner with the Clemmons Family Farm

The University of Vermont and the University of Wisconsin are  partnering with the Clemmons Family Farm to compile the oral histories of Dr.  Jack Clemmons, a pediatric pathologist, and Mrs.  Lydia Clemmons, a registered nurse and nurse anesthetist.

Two  UVM graduate  students in history,  Perri Meldon and  Franco Paz, will work with the Clemmonses, whose 70-year  careers in medicine and nursing  began in the early 1940s and span work in the United States, Sweden and Africa. Both  Jack and Lydia worked a t the University of Vermont Medical Center, where Jack  was the second African-American on the faculty and worked in the department of pathology for more than 30 years.  Lydia was the first African-American nurse anesthetist and  worked in the operating rooms  at the DeGosbriand Unit and Fletcher Allen.

Meldon and Paz will be trained by Dr. Troy Reeves, head of the oral history program of the University  of Wisconsin-Madison.