Ethel Clay Price (October 2, 1874 – October 26, 1943) was an American nurse and socialite. She was the first graduate from Watts Hospital Training School for Nurses in

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

, obtaining her nursing degree in 1897. She was married to insurance executive Julian Price and was the mother-in-law of the businessman

Joseph M. Bryan Joseph McKinley Bryan (February 11, 1896 – April 26, 1995) was an American insurance executive, broadcast pioneer, and philanthropist. Born in Elyria, Ohio, Bryan was the second son of Bart Bryan and Caroline Ebert Bryan. After serving ove ...

. Price lived at Hillside, a large mansion she and her husband had built in

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...

. A devout Catholic, Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church in Greensboro was built as a memorial to her. A scholarship at the Watts Nursing School and a scholarship at

Notre Dame of Maryland University Notre Dame of Maryland University is a private Catholic university in Baltimore, Maryland. NDMU offers certificate, undergraduate, and graduate programs for women and men. History The Roman Catholic academic/educational religious congregation ...

are named after her.

Biography

Price was born in New York City on October 2, 1874, to Colonel Henry de Boisfeuillet Clay, a U.S. Infantry officer and

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

veteran, and Harriet Field. A convert to the

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

faith, Price was an ardent devotee to the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

. She studied at Notre Dame Academy in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

before moving to

Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...

to attend Watts Hospital Training School for Nurses. She was the school's first graduate in 1897 and worked as a nurse at

Watts Hospital Watts Hospital, located in Durham, North Carolina was the city's first hospital, operating between 1895 and 1976. The hospital opened in 1895, funded entirely by George W. Watts, as a private, 22-bed, modern hospital dedicated to the care of Dur ...

. On August 22, 1897, she married insurance businessman Julian Price at Mechum River Farm in Virginia."PRICE, Julian," ''The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography,'' Volume XXXIV (New York: James T. White & Company, 1948) page 430 They had two children, Kathleen Marshall Clay and Ralph Clay. Her daughter, Kathleen, married businessman

. Price and her husband built Hillside, a large mansion in

Fisher Park Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

. Although her husband was Baptist, Price remained a devout Catholic. In the 1930s, she would host Fr. Vincent Taylor, a visiting priest from Belmont Abbey who celebrated mass at St. Benedict Catholic Church, and had him at Hillside for dinner along with her husband's two Catholic secretaries.

Death and legacy

Price died in Greensboro on October 26, 1943. After her death, her husband provided the funding for the construction of Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church as a memorial to her in honor of her Catholic faith. Her children contributed an additional gift of $300,000 for the construction of the church. The church, completed in 1952, is also called the Mrs. Julian Price Memorial. In 1964, the Ethel Clay Price Scholarship was created at the Watts School of Nursing. In 1982, her son endowed the Ethel Clay Price Scholarship for Continuing Education at Notre Dame of Maryland University.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Price, Ethel Clay 1874 births 1943 deaths 19th-century Roman Catholics 20th-century Roman Catholics American socialites American women nurses Catholics from New York (state) Catholics from North Carolina Converts to Roman Catholicism Notre Dame of Maryland University alumni People from Greensboro, North Carolina People from New York City Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte