Evelyn Polk Green is a dear member of the ADDA family and past ADDA president, who served, and continues to serve, the ADHD community with great dedication. She celebrated the full, vibrant, and tenacious life of her mother who passed away March 19, 2017 at the blessed age of 93.
Evelyn’s mother (of the same name) was a fierce advocate for education and an inspiring woman who pushed through the barriers of discrimination and oppression with grit and great generosity to others. To celebrate the life of Evelyn’s mother, and, indeed, to simultaneously celebrate the gifts and dedication of Evelyn herself, ADDA awarded three free student memberships to women of color pursuing higher education.
Under any circumstances, completing post-secondary education as a black woman is fraught with challenges. Coping with adult ADHD at the same time is daunting and frequently overwhelming. The recipients of these memberships were extremely grateful and all declared they have already benefitted from the support they’ve received through the ADDA community.
ADDA is pleased to announce that we will continue our support of disenfranchised populations by offering free student memberships to women of color pursuing higher education. These memberships will be provided through your generous donations to the Evelyn Virginia Celebratory Membership Fund.
We ask that you continue to support our efforts generously by contributing to the Evelyn Virginia Celebratory Membership Fund. Text Evelyn to 41444 or click the appropriate button below to donate. This fund will be used to offer free student memberships to women of color pursuing higher education (regardless of age!).
Evelyn Virginia Farmer
Evelyn Virginia Farmer was born on May 1, 1923 in Grant Town, West Virginia. She was one of six siblings born to Frank and Ruth Booker Farmer, who both preceded her in death.
After graduating from Washington High School, Evelyn planned to attend college to become a teacher, but the Great Depression and WWII interrupted her plans. During the War, she became a real-life “Rosie the Riveter,” building planes on a factory line and saving her earnings and summers for school. By age 25, she earned her bachelor’s degree in education from Bluefield College in 1946. She began her career teaching in a rural one-room schoolhouse and moved on to teaching positions in West Virginia, Virginia and Ohio.
Her family joined the Great Migration (a time when Blacks moved west and north to escape Jim Crow) and settled in Chicago in the late Fifties. Always independent, especially for a Black woman at that time, she continued to support her extended family, eventually teaching the in the Chicago Public School system.
Once in Chicago, she met Joel Phelps Polk and they were married in 1960, followed closely by the birth of their two children over the next three years. While they didn’t remain married, they did remain friends and took care of each other and their children until Joe’s death in 1978.
Evelyn continued her journey towards educational and economic empowerment as a single parent, teaching at Betsy Ross Elementary School while working towards her master’s degree from Governor’s State University. She spent the last few years of her nearly 45-year career teaching preschoolers at Francis Parkman School, retiring from CPS in 1992.
Evelyn was a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. as well as the National Sorority of Phi Delta Kappa, Inc. educational organization.
Mrs. Polk never rested until everyone was taken care of and she was constantly thinking of ways to support others — even if it sometimes came at her own expense. She dished out love and tough advice and rarely pulled punches about what she thought. She pushed everyone around her to value and pursue new learning opportunities and to work through the toughest of times on the way to success.
Evelyn is survived by daughter Evelyn Green, son Joel S. Polk, both of Chicago, and two grandchildren, Perry W. Green, III and Robert Jordan Green. She is also survived by a host of nieces, nephews and cousins, many of whom she cared for during her life.
As generous in death as she was in life, Evelyn donated her remains to science and medical education.
Thank you on behalf of everyone at ADDA.
To your success,
Duane Gordon, President
Attention Deficit Disorder Association