Trailblazing advocate for the elderly passes at 76
May 25—HENDERSON — Dr. Inez Mariesainte Myles, founder of the N.C. Senior Citizen's Federation, passed away last week at Duke University Hospital at the age of 76. She was laid to rest on May 21 at Jeter Chapel Baptist Church in South Boston, Virginia.
Dr. Myles founded NCSCF in Henderson in 1972 to help connect senior citizens with resources such as housing and health care. The nonprofit is still registered with the N.C. Business Registry as active.
Before all her work, Dr. Inez Myles attended Shaw University, which is where she met fellow New Yorker and football player Mr. Robert Leo Myles. They married by the time she graduated in 1967. In July of that year, the couple celebrated the birth of their only child — Mr. Arthur Clifton Myles. He was given the name of his late great-grandfather, the Rev. Arthur Clifton Yarborough.
Mr. Clifton Myles gave some insight into the late advocate.
"She truly believed in this particular mission," he said. She lived in the community she served, in Henderson. Her home was right around the corner from her nonprofit's headquarters.
Dr. Myles founded the N.C. Senior Citizen's Federation, a nonprofit which helped connect elderly people find resources they wouldn't have had otherwise. The nonprofit, incorporated in 1972 in Henderson, before long served all 100 counties in North Carolina and spread to other states.
Dr. Inez Myles, her son recounted, opened a restaurant that would allow senior citizens to work part time, the aptly named Granny's.
"Those senior citizens could cook something fiercely," Mr. Myles said with a chuckle.
The Federation isn't around in the same state that it was in 50 years ago. Many of the board members have since passed on, according to Mr. Myles, since only senior citizens could serve in those positions. He wondered what he could do to continue his mother's advocacy, in some capacity.
Ms. Joyce Howard-Fritz, a former employee of the nonprofit, remembered Dr. Myles as a good boss and a better orator. Those working under her could expect regular invitations to cookouts after work. Ms. Howard-Fritz said Dr. Andrea Harris was the nonprofit's brain, working successfully to secure grant funding. Dr. Myles, on the other hand, was its nonprofit's voice.
"She was an excellent speaker, an excellent speaker," Ms. Howard-Fritz said. "Her delivery was impeccable... I've never heard anybody speak as eloquently and intense as she would. She had a way of speaking that just drew you in."
On July 3, 1979, Dr. Myles spoke to the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on "The Impact of Federal Older American Programs at the State and Location Level," saying at one point, "We thank you for this opportunity to assure a voice for those who have and still do contribute invaluably to our society and yet experience poverty in the midst of plenty."
In 1981, she served as the chair of the Elderly Committee for the National Community Action Agency Executive Director's Association. She spoke to Congress to encourage the body to reauthorize and extend the Older Americans Act of 1965. Three years later, she said in another speech to national legislators, "It is morally reprehensible for the richest nations to balance its books at the expense of the poor while providing for the rich."
Another friend, Dr. Willie Todd, said Dr. Myles would give him speech writing tips by simply speaking. Once, he recounted, Dr. Myles had once brought a busload of senior citizens "dressed to the nines" down to watch one of his plays at Clark Atlanta University, where he taught English at the time. Mr. Clifton Myles noted that his mother would bring artists like the Manhattans to Henderson as a way of exposing the community to opportunities they wouldn't normally get.
Each time U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., appeared on, as she called it, "C, N and N," she'd give Dr. Todd a call to let him know. Dr. Todd had the opportunity to meet Rep. Clyburn on a few occasions. He never forgot to send her photos of himself beside the representative.
An employee and close friend of Dr. Myles, Mr. Harry Williams, shared his thoughts.
"She loved senior citizens," Mr. Williams said, "no matter who, race... she was a kind person, a gentle person, she was always trying to offer a helping hand... she just tried to help."
In the Federation's early days, Dr. Myles collected funding in ways like her "10-cent campaigns," where she asked elderly citizens to donate a single dime to assist in building the nonprofit. In its later years the nonprofit focused on providing affordable assisted living services to senior citizens who did not have access to them. The Scott Mitchell Senior Living Apartments Phases I and II was a realization of that goal.
Later, Dr. Myles worked to develop and consult with several housing facilities including Forsyth Village in Winston-Salem, Louisburg Gardens in Louisburg and Yarborough-Oneal Villas, which was named to honor her grandmother. Even as her health deteriorated, she created and operated family care homes in two North Carolina towns, Red Springs and Newbern.
And yet, Dr. Todd said, Dr. Myles did not speak much about her accomplishments. Everything in her obituary was obtained from outside sources. "What got me was how humble she was," he said.
When people like Dr. Myles, those who dedicate their lives to service, pass on, "We owe it to them to get their story out there."
