In honor of Women’s History Month, Birmingham Green celebrates one of our most remarkable residents — Doris Austin Forde, a 101-year-old nurse whose life reflects a century of resilience, service, and quiet leadership.
At our assisted living community in Manassas, we are privileged to care for individuals whose stories span generations of change.
When you sit with Doris Austin Forde, you are not just spending time with a centenarian; you are experiencing living history.
Born in Austin, Texas, Ms. Forde moved to Los Angeles as a child when her mother, Bertha, sought greater opportunity in California. At a time when many doors were closed to women, especially to women of color, her mother believed in something bigger. That belief shaped Doris’ life.
“I was drawn to nursing,” Ms. Forde reflects, “by the prospect of utilizing my intelligence to excel in a career rather than just a job.”
That distinction mattered. Nursing was not simply employment; it was independence. It allowed her to support her first husband’s Marine Corps career and later provide a Catholic school education for her two sons.
From Surgical Nursing to Family Practice: A Lifetime of Skilled Care
Following her divorce, she worked multiple jobs, including overnight shifts, to maintain stability and opportunity for her family. Strategic and ambitious, she pursued a career in surgical nursing for its higher pay and greater responsibility.
Even in the 1940s, when societal expectations often confined women to the home, Ms. Forde pushed boundaries. Growing up around Hollywood’s affluent neighborhoods, she developed a mindset that challenged convention. “I have always been inclined to push the boundaries of what is deemed possible,” she says.
That spirit defined her career.
In the era before electronic health records and digital charting, her most essential tool was a Cross ink pen. With meticulous attention to detail, she recorded copious notes and research. Her sharp clinical instincts earned the respect of colleagues, including her late husband, Dr. Wells E. Forde, a surgeon 17 years her senior. He frequently consulted her on patient care.
Together, they later established a family practice after he retired from full-time surgery, building relationships with patients across generations. Her approach reflected what we now recognize as the foundation of compassionate, skilled nursing — personal attention, precision, and deep knowledge of each patient.
Why Nurses Can’t Be Replaced: Humanity in Modern Healthcare
Ms. Forde’s memories span both profound sorrow and extraordinary joy. She recalls recognizing that her hospitalized aunt had quietly passed in her sleep, noticing what others missed. She remembers a patient whose breast cancer scare ultimately led to a 70-year friendship; that woman is now 100 years old. She carries the deep memory of advocating for her youngest son during experimental AIDS trials decades after her own retirement, navigating the painful intersection of faith, love, and medical reality with grace.
Through it all, community mattered. Nurses supported one another during long shifts, shared rides (Ms. Forde was often the only one with a car), pooled resources, and even shared lunch invitations from ambitious young doctors. Their bonds reflected both professional solidarity and sisterhood.
“The most significant contrast in medicine today,” she observes, “is time and the lack thereof.” In her day, providers could truly know their patients. Care was personal. Relationships mattered.
Her advice to young people considering nursing today is simple and resolute: the need will never disappear. In an era increasingly shaped by technology, she offers a perspective earned over a century: “Nurses can’t be replaced by AI. A nurse’s humanity in patient care can’t be replaced by anything artificial.”
Her words resonate deeply in today’s evolving healthcare environment, including in modern skilled nursing settings where human connection remains essential.
Living History in Our Assisted Living Community in Manassas
At Birmingham Green, a trusted assisted living community serving Manassas and the surrounding region for nearly a century, we are honored to care for those who once cared for so many others.
Our residents are more than individuals; they are keepers of history. They hold lived experiences that span world wars, civil rights movements, medical revolutions, and generational change.
In our assisted living residences in Manassas, we see daily reminders that aging is not merely about years lived; it is about wisdom earned.
Aging with Dignity in a Trusted Skilled Nursing Facility in Manassas
As a longstanding provider of assisted living and skilled nursing in Manassas, Birmingham Green understands that dignity, compassion, and personalized care remain at the heart of what we do.
Women’s History Month invites us to celebrate trailblazers whose contributions were not always recorded in textbooks. Ms. Forde’s story reminds us that history often lives quietly among us, in starched uniforms and surgical wards, in late-night shifts and handwritten notes, and in mothers who invested in duplexes so their daughters could work and thrive.
At Birmingham Green, stories like Ms. Forde’s are not rare; they are cherished. Every resident in our assisted living and nursing community carries a lifetime of wisdom, resilience, and lived experience that enriches all of us.
This Women’s History Month, we invite you to spend time with the elders in your life. Ask questions. Listen deeply. Preserve their stories. Explore volunteer opportunities and connect with our community’s living history here in Manassas.
By Denise Chadwick Wright, Chief Executive Officer at Birmingham Green
703-257-0935 | dwright@birminghamgreen.org