Clara Hale dies; cared for 1,000 drug-addicted babies - Obituary

Jet, Jan 11, 1993

Funeral services were held recently in New York for Clara Hale, whose work with hundreds of drug-addicted infants earned her the affectionate nickname, "Mother Hale" and accolades from Harlem to the White House.

Mrs. Hale died of complications from a stroke. She was 87.

The modest Mrs. Hale, who was hailed by President Reagan as "an American hero" in his 1985 State of the Union speech, once described herself as "simply a person who loves children."

And love children she did. She dedicated her life to nurturing 1,000 babies - some of them infected with the HIV, which causes AIDS - at her care program, the Hale House in New York.

Her secret for caring for children was simple: "We hold them and rock them. They love you to tell them how great they are, how good they are. Somehow, even at a young age, they understand that," she once said.

She was 64 and ready to retire as a licensed foster parent when she began the second career that made her and Hale House a national symbol of nurturing and child care.

"It wasn't their fault they were born addicted. Love them. Help one another, love one another," she stated in explaining the program she started in 1969.

The birth of Hale House in 1969 was actually an accident. Mrs. Hale's daughter, Lorraine, was driving on a Harlem street when she saw a woman seated on a crate with a baby in her lap. The woman was nodding in a drug trance and seemed to be about to drop the baby.

"In a great act of impetuousness, I got out of the car," Lorraine Hale recalled. "I lectured her and told her to take the baby to my mother."

Mother Hale nursed the child through withdrawal and told the mother there was no charge for the care. Word spread quickly, and within six, months, Mother Hale was caring for 22 drug-addicted babies.

Mrs. Hale was born in Elizabeth City, N.C. and moved to Philadelphia at an early age. She was orphaned at age 16.

She later married Thomas Hale. They moved to New York City; he began a floor-waxing business and she did domestic work.

Widowed at 27, Mother Hale started taking care of children for $2 a week. She became a licensed foster parent in 1940, and she estimated that she raised about 40 foster children.

After nearly four decades of giving foster care, Mother Hale was ready to retire, but instead started the Hale House program.

In addition to her daughter, Lorraine, she is survived by two sons, Nathan and Kenneth.

Died:

... Dr. Edward Lewis Boothe, 70, retired dentist who began an illustrious career in Waterbury, Conn., before relocating his practice to Brooklyn, N.Y., suddenly in Long Island, N.Y.