By  Dianne Anderson

About the only activity that Dr. Lulamae Clemons doesn’t do these days is drive, but that hasn’t slowed her down any. Today, at 95 years old, she’s still out and about in great health, strong as ever in social advocacy. Looking over the decades, Dr. Clemons has witnessed the ebb and flow of African American culture, the triumphs of the civil rights movement, and all that is left to be done.

As a retired health educator, she’s also watched two of the toughest problems emerge in the Black community from the fast food generation, its impact on health and the deterioration of education.

“The very fact that there’s so much obesity, it’s a national issue,” she said. “You see the ladies and the men on the TV, and they have a soft drink in their hand. We must be fascinated with food -- just eat, eat eat.”

Spoken like a true nurse. Seventy years ago, she started her career as a registered nurse, later becoming an educator.

Back then, in pursuing her nursing degree, Dr. Clemons had to leave her hometown and Pueblo Junior College because they only trained white nurses there. She relocated, and passed the Missouri Board of Registered Nurse Examiners in 1942 with flying colors.

From there, she went on to receive her Bachelors of Science Cum Laude from Lincoln University, her Master of Arts in Public Health Administration from Columbia University, followed by a Doctorate of Education from the University of Southern California.

She also received a post graduate certificate in Pupil Personnel Services Administrator from Harvard University.

Locally, she pioneered some of the earliest movements to help bring the Inland Empire in line with equal rights in education.

While heading the Title IV School Desegregation Project at UCR in the 1960s, a project funded by the government covering four states to oversee local school districts, she met with administrators and teachers to talk about compliance in equal education.

Since coming to Riverside in 1956, she quickly became involved in the local NAACP, serving one term as president, and wrote the first grant to receive funding for the Riverside branch Head Start program. That program spanned more than three decades.

A lifetime member of the NAACP, Dr. Clemons recalls that she and many others were very passionate about academic advocacy for low-income children and children of color.

“We were strictly with the educational issue that no matter where that child was, that the child received the very best education possible. That was our main goal,” she said.

Today, her work continues with the Fair Housing Council of Riverside County, Inc. as Board Vice President. She has also been inducted into the University of California Riverside Women’s Resource Center Hall of Fame, and the Hall of Fame at Centennial High School in Pueblo, Colorado.

Going forward, she said that all parents must get involved with their children’s education and that young people should also work toward bringing God back into the schools. It would go a long way toward eliminating bullying and gang activity that is stressing the educational system.

“Parents [need to] focus on the schools and the meaning of education and the schools [need] to provide adequate teachers in order to keep up with the new technology that’s evolving each day, by the minute, so we won’t be left behind,” she said.

Endurance and courage in her generation came by way of the wisdom of parents, she said. They gave their children something that is timeless and infallible to make them successful -- something that is largely missing in today’s society.

“In those days, they had great faith in reading and believing the bible,” she said. “To know the Word and live in the Word.”

Asked what’s her secret to longevity, she doesn’t think twice.

“I'm on the prayer vitamin,” she laughs. “Really and truly I credit it all to the dear Heavenly Father.”