Rehabilitation in an historic perspective: the work of Bell Greve.

Bell Greve was one of the most prominent figures in rehabilitation from the 1930s through the 50s. Greve was not only a key figure in the National Rehabilitation Association, which still presents an annual award in her name, but in rehabilitation efforts around the globe. It is unlikely that what is today Rehabilitation International would exist without her hard work. Yet unlike many of her contemporaries, Bell Greve has been all but forgotten. A modest woman, apparently more interested in the world around her than in recounting stories from her own past, she rarely wrote about herself in her professional correspondence and left no memoirs to summarize her achievements. The following biographical sketch is based on Greve's personal papers and interviews and correspondence with colleagues and relatives.

Early Years

Bell Greve was born in Chicago on January 4, 1894, the second child of three born to Louis F. and Margaritha Greve. The dominant figure in Greve's early years was her mother who encouraged in her children "a sense of responsibility for self or for family, independence, steadfastness, appreciation of decencies" (Greve:nd). Bell's mother had good cause to stress such attributes, for her father was, in her own words, "restless, untrained for any work." He also had a problem with alcohol (ibid). Greve's mother was responsible both for raising and working to support her young family. When Bell Greve and her brothers reached adulthood they urged the mother to seek a divorce, which she did. (D. Greve:1993)

Keenly aware of the difficulties women had in supporting themselves, with her mother's encouragement, Greve attended Hiram College (Greve:nd) and then transferred to Women's College (today part of Case Western Reserve University) to complete her degree. Years later, she apparently told friends that her intention was to become a missionary (Bruere:1957a; Greve:1993), however it is unclear whether this decision was guided by strong religious conviction, by a curiosity to see the world or by some combination of both these reasons.

In 1916, during her junior year of college, Greve began to volunteer at Hiram House, a neighborhood settlement house in Cleveland. This experience seems to have proved key to her decision to undertake a career in social service (Filmer:1983). Soon after graduating from college, Greve took a job as a relief worker for the city of Cleveland. At the same time, she began taking night classes in law. Her interest in the law seems to have stemmed from an interest in policy and advocacy (Wilson: 1990). She received her law degree from Baldwin-Wallace College and passed the bar, although she never practiced law.

It is unclear how Greve became involved with rehabilitation, but she seems to have done so early in her career (Rehabilitation International:nd). Her youthful plans to become a missionary may have predisposed her to working with under-served populations. The roots of her interest in international issues are also unknown but apparently began quite early and continued throughout her life (Greve: 1993). It is interesting to note that a group of internationally oriented professionals were beginning to work on disability issues in the Cleveland area during the early 1920s. In 1922 in the nearby town of Elyria, Ohio, Edgar Allen had founded an organization initially called the International Society for Crippled Children. This would eventually give rise to two organizations: the National Easter Seals Society and what is today, Rehabilitation International. Over the next few decades, a number of leading national and international figures in rehabilitation can be traced to Ohio and many were affiliated with the Case Western Reserve University's School of Social Work. In addition to Bell Greve and Edgar Allen, Leonard Mayo, Romaine Mackie and slightly later, Donald Wilson, would all begin their careers in Cleveland (Groce: 1993).

Whatever her initial links to the very early international rehabilitation efforts in nearby Elyria, Greve's first overseas experience dates from 1921, when at the age of 27, she left Ohio to become the director of the Red Cross Child Health Center in Hodonin, Czechoslovakia (Binere: 1957a; Filmer:1983). There, working in a remote mountainous region, she spent three years establishing a program of traveling public health clinics.

In 1924, Greve returned to Ohio and was soon working as the Superintendent of the State Welfare Department's Division of Charities. Much of her work centered around the development of improved services for children statewide (National Rehabilitation Association: 1987). She held this job until 1929, when she left to become Director of the Community Chest in Charlestown, West Virginia. There, through the first years of the deepening Depression, Greve worked to deliver community services to impoverished families in one of the poorest regions of the United States (Bruere: 1957a; Filmer: 1983).

National Prominence

Greve attained national prominence by the late 1920s. Her name began to appear regularly in social work newsletters and at regional and national meetings during those years (Groce: 1993). By the early 1930s, Greve was fairly well established on the national scene. Norman Acton, a former Secretary General of Rehabilitation International, recalls Greve as "a social worker of the old school, and one of the magnificent batch of women who first came to the scene in the early part of the century. Martha Elliot who was founder of the Children's Bureau, Francis Perkins, first woman Secretary of Labor - there were about a dozen women in the 20's and 30's who were very prominent - Bell was one of them." (Acton:1989).

Greve returned to Cleveland in 1933 as Executive Secretary of the Association for the Crippled and Disabled, an organization that would eventually change its name to the Cleveland Rehabilitation Center. In various capacities, Greve oversaw the Cleveland Center for the following twenty years and it was during that time that the organization grew to be a large multiservice facility. It became nationally known for its pioneer work in rehabilitative care and in innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to providing services for children and adults with disabilities (National Rehabilitation Bulletin: 1987; Groce: 1993). By the late 1940's, the Cleveland Rehabilitation Center was one of the most prominent facilities in the United States, ranked on a par with New York's Institute for the Crippled and Disabled (Filmer:1983). In 1956, the Cleveland Center was merged with the Vocational Guidance Bureau to become Vocational Guidance and Rehabilitation Services. In addition to her work at the Cleveland Center, in 1935, Greve was appointed to a half-time position as Director of the Cuyahoga County Welfare Department, a position she would hold until 1953 (Bulletin: 1957).

International Involvement

At the same time as her national reputation in the field of rehabilitation grew, Greve found herself increasingly involved with international rehabilitation efforts. She seems to have become active in the International Society for the Welfare of Cripples at some point after her return from Eastern Europe in 1924 (Groce: 1993). Her international experience was probably invaluable to the early organizers of the Society, few of whom had traveled or worked abroad. She was soon lecturing on its behalf. One woman, many years later, recalled that:

"...one time, Bell came up to Grand Rapids for a meeting of the Michigan Society. I can recall her very well. She was a woman with a large bosom and a high-pitched soprano voice, with a great deal of enthusiasm too, I might say ... She, at the meeting in Grand Rapids, had said 'if only we had $500, we could start the work in Bulgaria.' I always thought of that in later years and what a little bit of money the International was looking for to do a great deal." (Seton: 1988)

Throughout the Depression, despite dwindling financial support and thinning membership roles, Bell Greve continued to remain active on behalf of the International Society. She was heavily involved in organizing the Word Congresses in Budapest in 1936 and in London in 1939 (Rehabilitation International:nd). At the 1939 Congress, Greve was elected Secretary General of the organization, a post she held until 1951. Throughout the war years, Greve, using her own resources, contacts, skill and money effectively kept the International Society alive (Filmer:1983). The headquarters of the International Society was essentially a file cabinet devoted to the organization in one corner of her office (Groce:1993). Following the War, Greve and the newly elected president, Dr. Henry Kessler met to consider the future of the organization. They both had come to the realization that the International Society could not continue to function on an entirely voluntary basis, a paid administrative staff was needed. Money was the issue - or rather lack of it. Although Society account books from that time have yet to be located, apparently, by 1949, the Society had less than $2,000 in its entire budget (Acton: 1989; Wilson: 1990).

Then, out of the blue, help arrived. A woman somewhere in the mid-West, years before, had heard Bell Greve present a lecture on disabled children overseas. This woman had been so impressed that she left an inheritance of $16,000 for Greve to use as she saw fit (Wilson:1990). Its arrival could not have been more timely. The inheritance was designated as seed money for a more permanent staff and New York City was chosen as its base of operations, in large measure because it had recently been designated as the home of the new United Nations organization.

In addition to running the Cleveland Rehabilitation Center and overseeing the general work of the International Society, Greve seems to have always kept a hand in other projects. For example, in 1937 working alongside Nelly Micrulacki, Greve was responsible for founding the Hellenic Society for Crippled Children in Greece (Rehabilitation Abstract: 1964). During World War Two, working with Chinese physicians here in the United States, Greve began making plans for establishing rehabilitation centers for war injured civilians as soon as the fighting ceased in mainland China (Robertson:1945). It is not clear how or why Greve chose to work on various projects. Colleagues interviewed on the subject, believe that Greve probably had no master plan as to what should be done next or where assistance should be delivered (Acton: 1989; Wilson: 1990; Groce: 1993). In fact, it seems likely that Greve responded to requests for assistance as they arose, filtering in through an ever widening circle of friends and acquaintances (D. Greve: 1993; Warms: 1990).

At the close of the War, Bell Greve was increasingly called upon by the newly formed United Nations. Although she retained her position in Cleveland, she was "sequestered" to the United Nations for extended periods of time through the 1940s and early 1950s (Filmer: 1983). For example, in 1946, Greve took time off from the Cleveland Clinic to join the staff of the Near East Foundation in Alexandropol, Armenia, overseeing an orphanage for 4500 children. Donald Wilson recalls Greve mentioning to him how she would ride up into the Armenian hills on horseback and herd stray children into the Center (Wilson: 1990). She stayed in Armenia until the Soviet Union took over and ordered foreign relief workers out (Groce: 1993). She traveled to war ravaged Greece in 1946 to develop a plan for the rehabilitation of civilians injured in the fighting. Greve returned home with only the clothes on her back, having given everything else to refugees at the Greek centers in which she had worked (Robertson: 1946). She assisted in the establishment of rehabilitation centers in Mexico, China and Cuba (Switzer: 1957). Greve was also active through unofficial channels. She organized a small, informal organization called "Friends of Haiti" to send donated food, clothes and medicines to Sister Joan Margaret's St. Vincent School for Crippled Children (Warms:1989).

Meanwhile, her work in Cleveland continued. She became prominent in local and regional programs and was an important figure in what is today the National Rehabilitation Association. In 1949 at the National Conference of Social Work in Cleveland, Greve spearheaded the formation of the National Association of Sheltered Workshops and Homebound Programs (Filmer: 1983). Two years later, she organized a breakfast meeting which culminated in the formation of the Conference of Rehabilitation Centers (National Rehabilitation Association: 1987). She also helped in the organization of the Ohio Council on the Handicapped, the forerunner of the National Rehabilitation Association in Ohio (Filmer: 1983). Referred to frequently in the press as the "World Citizen of Cleveland," she became a close associate of Howard Rusk, Henry Kessler, Mary Switzer and many other leaders of the rehabilitation world of the 1950s (Walker: 1989).

Then in 1953, Cleveland's Mayor Celebrezze appointed her Director of Health and Welfare for the City of Cleveland, a position that among other things, decreased the amount of time she had available to devote to the International Society. She was serving in this capacity in 1956, when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Hospitalized in December of 1956, her room quickly filled with flowers, cards, gifts and candy sent or brought by admirers from around the world (Bruere: 1957a,b). Many of Bell's friends, including Mary Switzer, Director of the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, flew to Cleveland to be with her (Switzer:1957). Bell Greve died of cancer at the age of 63 on January 9, 1957.

Greve's Legacy

To recite Bell Greve's list of accomplishments provides only one dimension to a woman who seems to have been so widely admired and loved. The words that come up repeatedly in her memorials are "inspirational" and "kind." Clergyman John Bruere, in a eulogy noted that Bell was" ... indefatigable in energy, inexhaustible in resourcefulness, but more than that, she possessed the most wonderful combination of impatience and persistence. She would not accept as final the "No" of lethargy and indifference. She had the gad-fly characteristics of Socrates, and few people ever fell asleep around her." (Bruere: 1957a)

Indeed, she seems to have had boundless energy. Often at her work before dawn, she would work well beyond midnight. Puerto Rico-based Dr. Herman Flax recalls a quick visit he made anxious to see the Cleveland Rehabilitation Center, Bell Greve invited him to stop over quickly on his way from Canada. The plane landed at night, Greve picked him up at the airport and whisked him to the Center. There she gave him a tour that lasted until the early morning hours, when she returned him to the airport to catch his flight home. She left the airport, however, to return to her office (Flax: 1990).

Greve never married, but she was close to her family and devoted to her nephews and nieces, encouraging them all to attend college, and paying the tuition for several. Her nephew, Dr. Douglas Greve, remembers her as a warm and involved aunt, always ready to take him to Tarzan movies of which she was apparently a devoted fan. As a child he recalls that he was largely unaware of her role on the national scene, although he mentions once being impressed to meet someone who introduced himself as the king of Lithuania at her house (D. Greve: 1993). She lived in a big house in Cleveland Heights, filled with plants, knickknacks from around the world, and regularly, foreign students from Case Western and colleagues stopping by on their way through town.

Bell Greve received numerous awards and honors. She was named First Lady of Rehabilitation at the Sixth World Congress of the International Society for the Welfare of the Disabled in 1954, and received the W.F. Faulkes Award for technical and professional achievement from the National Rehabilitation Association in 1955. After her death, eulogies and memorials poured in. The Ohio Rehabilitation Administration has an annual Lecture series named in her honor, as has the Medical School at the University of Athens in Greece. In 1958, the National Rehabilitation Association established the Bell Greve Memorial Award to be presented annually to the agency or individual "in recognition of creative service to handicapped people and stimulation of public recognition for their rehabilitation" (National Rehabilitation Association: 1987). Perhaps more importantly, her legacy lives on in all the individuals and programs she touched with her enthusiasm and her creative ideas. The rehabilitation world, both nationally and internationally would look decidedly different today had she not been a key player.

Bibliography

Acton, N. (1989). Unpublished Interview with Nora Groce for NIDRR Oral History Project on US Based Leaders in International Rehabilitation. New York: Rehabilitation International Archives.

Bruere, J. (1957a). "She Served Humanity": A Memorial Service for Miss Bell Greve. Cleveland, Ohio: Church of the Covenant. January 9.

Bruere, J. (1957b). "Bell Greve: World Citizen of Cleveland" Transcript from radio broadcast: Religion That Works with Rev. John Bruere. WGAX, Cleveland, January 20, 1957.

Bulletin of the National Society for Crippled Children (The Easter Seal Society) (1957). "Bell Greve, International Leader in Rehabilitation Dies in Cleveland." Vol. 19, no. 9 p. 12 (January).

Filmer, D. (1983). Letter from Donald Filmer to Martha Lentz Walker. Unpublished: Martha Lenz Walker Collection.

Flax, H. (1990) Unpublished Interview with Nora Groce for NIDRR Oral History Project on US Based Leaders in international Rehabilitation. New York: Rehabilitation International Archives.

Greve, B. (nd). Letter from Bell Greve to Louis Greve Unpublished: Louis Greve Collection.

Greve, D. (1993) Interview with Dr. Douglas Greve, New Orleans, Louisiana. Unpublished: Nora Groce research notes.

Groce, N. (1991). The United States' Role in International Disability Activities. New York: World Institute on Disability, The World Rehabilitation Fund and Rehabilitation International.

National Rehabilitation Association. (1987). Announcement of the Bell Greve Memorial Award. Washington: National Rehabilitation Association.

Rehabilitation Abstracts (1964). "A Woman From Athens." New Jersey: The Kessler Institute Feb., 1964, p. 2. Rehabilitation International. (nd) Collected programs and notes: File: Conferences 1929-1940. New York: Archives of Rehabilitation International.

Robertson, Josephine (1945). "Plans to Rehabilitate China's Disabled are Drafted Here" The Cleveland Plain Dealer. July, 1945.

Robertson, Josephine (1946). "Bell Greve Tells of Greek Plight" The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Feb. 27, 1946.

Seton, F. (1988). Easter Seal Days: A Narrative by Gertrude Norcross. Hartford: Connecticut Easter Seal Society.

Switzer, Mary 1957. "Tribute for Bell Greve" New York: Rehabilitation International Archives, unpublished ms. Jan. 16, 1957.

Walker, Martha Lenz (1985). Beyond Bureaucracy: Mary Elizabeth Switzer and Rehabilitation. New York: University Press of America.

Warms, D. (1990). Unpublished Interview with Nora Groce for NIDRR Oral History Project on US Based Leaders in International Rehabilitation. New York: Rehabilitation International Archives.

Wilson, D. (1990). Unpublished Interview with Nora Groce for NIDRR Oral History Project on US Based Leaders in International Rehabilitation. New York: Rehabilitation International Archives.

Author's Note: The author is interested in writing a more extensive biography of Bell Greve and would appreciate any additional information, stories or anecdotes about Greve, particularly from individuals who knew or worked with her. The author is indebted to Dr. Douglas Greve of New Orleans, Louisiana, who has been kind enough to share family documents and memories about his aunt. She also thanks Martha Lentz Walker for sharing a letter from Donald Filmer and answering questions regarding early rehabilitation history, and Donald Filmer himself, for responding to a telephone query with helpful information.

Nora Ellen Groce, Division of Health Policy, School of Public Health, Yale University, 60 College Street, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8034.