Miss Bernice Everett 1921. Source
Miss Bernice Julia Everett (1881-1967) from Wallaston, Massachusetts, a social worker, was director of the Near East Relief (NER) at Bursa (Gr: Brousa, Προύσα). She sailed to Constantinople from New York on February 16, 1919 with the Wellesley College unit of the NER. In September 1920 she was head of the Personnel House in Constantinople but her contribution to relief work was mainly as director of the Bursa unit.
Everett was in Ottoman Turkey during the post-WW1 period when the Allies occupied different parts of Asia Minor. It was during this time that displaced and deported citizens began returning to their homes. This period also saw the formation of the Kemalist movement which resulted in the continued persecution of Greeks, Armenians and other groups within the Kemalist zones of influence. To escape massacres, large numbers fled to Bursa.
Miss Everett visiting a refugee family. Only one detail of her many duties. Source: The New Near East, February 1922.
During her time at Bursa, Everett developed schools and helped children with education, expanded industrial activities and repatriated farmers, aided over 14,000 refugees driven from their homes by the Kemalists by distributing money and supplies and finding housing for them, directed orphanages, superintended soup kitchens, and trained 1,300 orphans and aided in the transfer of several hundreds to the NER orphanage at Bardizag (Tr: Bahçecik).
The Greek Red Cross awarded Miss Everett a medal for her service to the Greek refugees at Bursa. The award was based on two things: devotion and epidemics. Everett departed Constantinople for America on March 13, 1922.
Miss Bernice Everett, Near East Relief Director, visits Refugees House in buildings requisitioned for them by the Greek Army. Source: The New Near East, January 1922. p.10.
The New Near East, Feb 1922. p.17.
Converse Florence. Wellesley college: a chronicle of the years, 1875-1938. Massachusetts 1939. 215-216.
Team Work Volume III no. 6, Smith, June 1924. The Story of Near East Relief, Barton 1930. From Near East Museum website, https://neareastmuseum.com/memorials
Wellesley College Girls are Cleaning up Constantinople. The Pitssburgh Press, January 9, 1921. p.7.
Southampton Knows Near East Worker. The Springfield Weekly Republican. June 15, 1922. p.10.
The above photos have been digitally unblurred to improve clarity.
