Norge Winifred Jerome, PhD, wasn’t usually within the information. She wasn’t a public determine identified by Kansas Metropolis’s energy elite. However over a 40-year profession on the College of Kansas Medical Middle, she led the division of Preventive Drugs to do groundbreaking public-health work in a sub-specialty she created: dietary anthropology.
Jerome died at Village Shalom Senior Residing Middle in December 2021 on the age of 91. Colleagues, family and friends of Norge Jerome will collect on Sunday to recollect her.
From Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, to the small Black farming city of Nicodemus, Kansas, to Cairo, Egypt, Jerome was among the many first to hyperlink how a folks’s beliefs and rituals affected their meals selections and well being outcomes.
“I keep in mind her properly due to her groundbreaking analysis, her concern particularly for these in want of meals and her mentorship of younger school,” stated Rita Clifford, PhD, RN, a former affiliate dean of the KU College of Nursing.
“Once I was a younger school member, she was all the time there as a buddy or colleague,” Clifford stated.
Inside and out of doors the office, Jerome was seen as a singular drive of persona, a small however highly effective Black lady who stood as much as the white, male hierarchy within the highest echelons of educational {and professional} circles.
She was a nurturing aunt and mentor to legions of younger folks, notably girls. Those that knew her recall her joie de vivre that spanned the humanities, gardening, studying and nurturing friendships throughout socioeconomic, racial and geographic boundaries.
Dr. Judith A. Ricci, a longtime buddy and colleague, stated Jerome was one of many first to comprehend the research of what folks eat was inseparable from the biology and tradition of a society.
“This is applicable to all populations whether or not they reside in Kansas Metropolis, Kansas, the Egyptian Nile Delta or the Amazon rain forest,” Ricci stated. “Norge believed that vitamin interventions may very well be profitable provided that they have been designed and carried out with a full and clear understanding of the cultural beliefs and practices, social setting and group, know-how and bodily setting.”
However, Ricci stated, her buddy was additionally a fierce advocate for younger students. She stated Jerome chosen her over extra skilled senior anthropologists in 1981 to participate in a vitamin analysis venture in Egypt.
“Norge noticed one thing in me, believed in my talents and provided me a possibility that might assist launch my profession,” she stated. “Norge epitomized the qualities of non-public integrity, perseverance, generosity and selfless service to others. As a younger lady I aimed to emulate Norge, to embody these traits in my very own life.”
Jerome by no means married or had youngsters of her personal however was devoted to her 4 siblings, nieces and nephews. Considered one of her nieces, Juanita Johnson, stated in spite the numerous articles, obituaries and accounts of her life, few point out her devotion to household.
For instance, Johnson stated, “Aunty Norge” flew to Grenada when her brother died to execute plans for the care of his three teenage youngsters. She introduced one of many nephews to stay along with her in Kansas Metropolis, ultimately supporting him by way of faculty.
“A superb schooling was vital to her,” Johnson stated. “She paid tuition for my whole bachelor’s diploma after I moved to Toronto. She was very supportive of her family members, particularly of their time of want.”
A distinguished profession
Jerome was born within the rural village of Mon Plaisir, Grenada. After graduating from a personal, all-girls boarding college within the capital of St. Georges at a time most women didn’t pursue superior schooling, she was awarded a management coaching scholarship from the College of the West Indies in Jamaica. After instructing college and dealing on the group YMCA for 9 years, she realized what most fulfilled her was academia, “with concepts inside (her) head 24 hours a day,” she as soon as wrote.
She graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University with a level in Diet, Dietetics and Biochemistry. She went on to obtain a grasp’s diploma in Experimental Meals and Microbiology from the College of Wisconsin, and a doctorate in worldwide vitamin and anthropology in1967.
Her research was largely chargeable for the institution of dietary anthropology inside the broader self-discipline of anthropology. She was the founder and first president of the Council on Dietary Anthropology, now referred to as The Society for the Anthropology of Meals and Diet.
Within the late Nineteen Eighties and early Nineties, she was Director of the Workplace of Diet at the US Company for Worldwide Growth, President of the Affiliation for Ladies in Growth and of Photo voltaic Cookers Worldwide, an NGO that launched photo voltaic cookers to refugee camps and villages throughout Africa.
Jerome’s Group Diet Laboratory developed methods to assist native communities monitor meals consumption. She had a particular venture in group well being within the tiny, Black farming group of Nicodemus, Kansas.
Jerome stated her inspiration for marrying anthropology and vitamin got here after she noticed the adversarial impression of overseas support applications that aimed to handle vitamin issues in her house nation of Grenada with out understanding the habits of its folks.
Legacy of philanthropy
Jerome’s dedication to service was widespread.
In 1998, she based the Dr. Norge W. Jerome Grenada Academics Awards program in addition to offering help for sources on the Essential Library in Grenada.
She established the Norge Winifred Jerome Youth Mentorship Program on the Crittenton Youngsters’s Middle and properly earlier than her demise, distributed a few of her belongings to members of her household. She was a smart investor and created the Norge Winifred Jerome Charitable Fund with the Larger Kansas Metropolis Group Basis to distribute the remainder of her wealth to particular causes of her selecting.
Jerome was an everyday subscriber to the Kansas Metropolis Symphony and beloved attending the yearly efficiency of Handel’s Messiah. She was an avid patron of theater, notably the Unicorn.
Courtesy of The Unicorn Theatre
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Cynthia Levin, inventive director of the Unicorn Theatre, acquired to know Jerome when the Unicorn produced “Flyin’ West,” about African American girls who settled within the all Black city of Nicodemus, Kansas, within the late 19th century. As a result of Jerome had labored on well being and vitamin applications with residents there, Levin tapped her experience to ensure the manufacturing had editorial integrity.
Levin stated Jerome grew to become an everyday attendee and 20 years in the past joined the board of administrators. A couple of years later, she gave a donation that helped construct a second efficiency area on the Unicorn, now referred to as the Norge Jerome Stage.
“She got here to each present on the Unicorn till her well being began failing and she or he couldn’t attend any longer,” Levin stated. “She is likely one of the strongest, most brave girls I’ve identified. The Theatre will stay on proudly exhibiting her identify.”
Jerome’s room at Village Shalom, the place she spent the previous few years of her life after a analysis of dementia, was a diorama of paintings and colourful cloth, footage and mementos from her life of worldwide journey.
A Village Shalom publication usually options one of many residents. Lori Davidson, director of social companies, wrote a bit about Jerome.
“When Norge Jerome moved to Village Shalom, the very first thing that struck me was the standard nature that she offered. She virtually appeared shy,” Davidson wrote. “Workers instantly linked to Norge and have been drawn to her quiet spirit and that large, all-over-her-face smile. Whereas Norge’s reminiscence has pale, her legacy will stay far past what even she ever imagined.”
