Corliss Henry

Corliss Henry

Corliss Leith Taylor was born in New York City on 10 September 1924, to parents Kenneth and Ethel Taylor of Jamaica, West Indies (siblings: Sidney, Gloria, Winfield, Norma, as well as a half sister, Dorothy).

Throughout the 1920's, the Taylor family moved back and forth between Jamaica and New York. She and her family finally settled in New York in 1936, where they lived in Harlem.

Corliss attended Hunter College High School, an all-girls, admission-based public school on Manhattan's Upper East Side, one of only a few black students. Upon graduating from Hunter in 1942, she took a job at a factory in the Bronx, where she was trained as a metal solderer. Later that year, she applied to a Federally funded program that paid for tuition at The School of Nursing at Harlem Hospital, founded in 1923, specifically to train black nurses. She graduated in 1945 and was immediately hired by Harlem Hospital.

Corliss married Harold Wallace of New York in 1948 and gave birth to son, Bruce, on 8 December 1948. That marriage ended in divorce.

She married Preston Henry in 1955, and moved to Plainfield, New Jersey. Their son, Steven, was born on 27 September 1963. Corliss remained a Plainfield resident until December 2017, when she moved to the Chelsea at Fanwood, an assisted living facility.

In 1957, Corliss was hired as a nurse at Plainfield's Muhlenberg Hospital. She was the first black nurse on staff, and her hiring required a special meeting of the Board of Directors. She remained at Muhlenberg until 1968, when she left to take a job as an instructor at the School of Nursing at Middlesex County College (MCC) in Edison, New Jersey. Corliss became an Associate Professor at MCC as well as the teacher's union representative, a role she embraced with passion and tenacity. While teaching a full course load at MCC, she earned a Masters degree in Education at New York University, taking classes at night and on the weekends. Corliss retired in 1991.

Corliss was a devoted and voracious consumer of culture, visiting museums and attending theater (Broadway and off-Broadway), dance and music performances. Among the many organizations she supported were the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Alvin Ailey and the Dance Theater of Harlem.

An avid traveller, Corliss visited many of the islands of the Caribbean; most countries in Europe; Morocco, Senegal and Kenya; Brazil, Peru and Mexico; the Soviet Union and Communist China. Every September, she travelled to Washington, D.C, for the Congressional Black Caucus Conference, which she attended every year from its inauguration in 1970 until 2015.

In February 2018, in a ceremony at the Governor's Mansion in Princeton, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy presented Corliss with a Legacy Award for her professional and lifetime achievements.

Corliss Henry died on 14 April 2020 of complications from Covid-19. She is predeceased by Preston Henry, died 1 September 2012, and is survived by her son Steve and his partner, Philip Shneidman; son, Bruce Henry, and his wife, Jacqueline; and their daughters, Sarah and Ashleigh, son-in-law Ben Wauer, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Donations in memory of Corliss Henry can be made to:

JFK Muhlenberg Snyder Schools of Nursing

Office of Financial Aid

1200 Park Ave

Plainfield NJ 07061

Checks only, please, and kindly write "In Memory of Corliss Henry" in the memo section.