March 28, 1926 – June 14, 2014

by Ellen Chesley Weig, for Saint Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Hillsborough, 2016

When Isabelle was a young girl, St. Matthew’s held Sunday School “in the church building and the different classes just went to different corners of the church.” Memories of her Sunday School teachers stayed with her, as did wonderful memories of her expansive North Carolina family.

The Webb family traces its Hillsborough roots well back into the 1800s. Isabelle often shared that she was related to many families with long North Carolina histories, a good number of whom are buried in St. Matthew’s beautiful old churchyard: Grahams, Huskes, Norwoods, Hills, Blounts, Cheshires, and Dranes. Her remarkable memory kept track of relatives and relations and wonderful family stories from old North Carolina plantations to the growth and development of St. Matthew’s and the town of Hillsborough. Isabelle said this was why there were so many people named Webb in the Churchyard – it wasn’t just last names; it could have been a maiden name or middle name. Any time questions arose about which family member was involved in some aspect of church history or a church memorial, Isabelle would tell another bit of information.

Isabelle shared her own story in an oral history – a story that exemplified her life as an Episcopal Churchwoman and in her professional career. As a young woman, Isabelle chose nursing when there were few options for women. She made a point of saying that when she was growing up, it was not a general expectation that women would get higher education. It was “more or less a personal expectation” and that only for some was there “encouragement” to go to college.

When Isabelle worked at Watts Hospital in Durham she was Head Nurse for the Full Term Nursery, taught practical nursing, and eventually became the Educational Director for the program. She had also worked for Duke Hospital as the Director of Recruitment for the Nursing Department. She said “one of the most interesting experiences I had there was a program that was … an anti-poverty program … there were about 20 students in the class … they were all African-American, except three.” This program was part of Operation Breakthrough, an anti-poverty movement in Durham in the 1960s, and was influential in the expansion of the Civil Rights movement. Isabelle believed that supporting education this way was critically important, because “one quarter of the adults above 25 years old … received an education inferior to sixth grade, making most of them illiterate.”

Isabelle was part of the fiber of St. Matthew’s in so many ways: Altar Guild, the Parish Guild and Episcopal Churchwomen, and Vestry and on Sunday mornings, sitting in the congregation. She recalled one time on Altar Guild when wildflowers were collected from along country roadsides. She said the ladies sat on the steps outside the sacristy to arrange them for Sunday morning, not unlike old times. Her presence at St. Matthew’s always reflected her love for her family and her family’s love for St. Matthew’s.