From her work with special children to helping those in search of affordable housing, Sally Powell has long been a part of the Clarksdale community.
She was recently presented with a resolution of appreciation by the Board of Commissioners of the Clarksdale Housing Authority in recognition of her 34 years of service on the board from July 1984 through July 2018.
Powell was vice-chairman of the Housing Authority Board of Commissioners for the last several years and gave untiringly of her time to serve as a commissioner on the board.
George W. Winter, Jr., current board chairman, expressed his sincere appreciation for Powell’s service.
“She is a delight to work with and a classy lady,” he said. “Above all, she is a community-minded person.”
Royal Ann Spencer, director of the Clarksdale Housing Authority, called Powell “an incredible lady.”
“She understood our residents’ needs for 34 years,” Spencer said. “Having been the director here for 33 years, I know what she has meant to the Housing Authority. I will surely miss her. In fact, I miss her already.”
Back in the 1960s, Powell was the lone instructor at the Open Door School held at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Clarksdale. The school served special children who were classified as teachable.
Organized in January 1964, the Open Door School operated solely on donations by the citizens of Clarksdale and Coahoma County. It was founded by the Coahoma County Association for Retarded Children expressly for trainable retarded children and each child was evaluated by a psychologist who determined which pupils were trainable.
When she started teaching in the Clarksdale Municipal School District, Powell asked if she could bring her 10 students from the Open Door School with her and the superintendent replied: “Can you start tomorrow?”
That was on a Monday, Powell recalls, and she started on the following Thursday. That was in 1970.
The class became a part of the special education program in the Clarksdale city school system and Powell continued working with her special students. Now retired, she maintains her interest in special students.
Powell said she didn’t concentrate on academics as much as teaching each child on how to get along with others. Special children usually were bound to their homes and didn’t have enough contact with other children to learn independence. Once they came to school, she said, “they were eager to learn.”
Powell said no one expected the school to last as long as it did, opening in 1964 and closing in 1970.
“There was a great need for the school and the citizens of Clarksdale and Coahoma County wouldn’t hear of it closing, which is a tribute to them,” she said.
Powell said there are certain routine jobs that the special children could perform “without becoming bored.”
Powell taught the children words and how to count. She remembers one little girl “who was absent from school for two days and when she returned to class had forgotten how to write her name.”
She also taught table manners and had an exercise program designed to develop physical coordination.
She remembers local civic clubs “being a big help in contributing funds to the Open Door School. as well as the Junior Auxiliary providing part-time volunteers and other clubs giving parties for the children.”
Powell’s son, Hampton Warren, who now lives in Atlanta, was excited about the resolution.
“As a child, I didn’t realize how big a deal my mom’s job was,” he said. “I thought she was just another teacher. I had no concept of her having to fund the school or even that her school was for special children.
“Now, of course, I realize all she went through and accomplished and I am so proud of her for what she did with the Open Door School in Clarksdale and for serving on the Board of Commissioners of the Housing Authority there for the last 34 years. I think that is special!”
