OPAL MARIE BROWN HYDE was born on December 16, 1930, in the tiny rural town of Carrollton in Isle of Wright County, Virginia.  She was the youngest of fourteen children born to the late Henrietta Ann Brown Bailey of Carrolton and Herbert Hugh Brown of Surrey County.  Opal’s grandmother Lucy Bailey Pierce was born in 1857.  Lucy’s father was John Corrin the slave owner of Lucy’s mother Amelia Battin. Lucy Bailey Pierce was born blind and married Wiliam Octavius Baily who died 1889. The couple had 14 children and after his death Lucy married Louis Pierce.

Opal was born and raised in Lucy’s house on Deep Bottom Road, where she lived with Lucy, her beloved parents, Herbert and Henrietta Brown, and thirteen older brothers and sisters, Minnie Lee, Herbert Allen, Nolie Estelle, Mildred Viola, Maggie Lucille (1913-14), Louis Milton, Morris Edward, Dorothy, Gladys Magnolia, Nora Eliss, Henrietta Virginia (“Ginny”), William Fredman, and Norman Purcell.

Back then the only school available to African American students in segregated Isle of Wright County was a ten mile walk from their house. The school had one classroom for all students from grades 1-12 and of course had no transportation.  So in 1941, as an 11 year-old child, Opal was sent to Nyack, N.Y., a suburb of New York City, to live with her older sister, Nolie Sisco, to get a better education.  While it was a very traumatic experience for Opal to leave her loving close family at such a young age, she adjusted well, excelled in school and went on to graduate from Nyack High School.  After high school, Opal sought higher education, a rare trait for Black women from the south, a quest that led her to Howard University.

Opal left the comfort of her sister’s home in Nyack to attend Freedmen’s Hospital School of Nursing in Washington, D.C. Opal excelled, graduated with honors and passed the boards to become a Registered Nurse (“R.N.”).   She was all set to begin her career as an R.N., when lightning bolts struck her and a gentleman surgeon at the Medical school at the same time. The young man, graduated from Howard Medical School in three years, number one in his class, and trained as a surgeon by the legendary Charles Drew, was William R. Hyde (known to family and friends as “Bill”). It did not take long for these two to realize their destiny, and Bill and Opal were married in 1951 in Fort Dix, NJ. Their love would be as vowed. Opal and Bill were together happily married for 59 years until she said goodbye to her soulmate in 2009 as he took his own journey home. 

In December of 1953 at Ft. Dix, N.J. Bill and Opal had their first of three sons, William R. Hyde, Jr. (known as “Ricky” & “Rick”).  Bill was a Captain in the U.S. Army and received orders shortly before becoming a father to deploy to the middle of the combat zones in the Korean War as Chief Surgeon of the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (“MASH”). Opal was supportive in every way. She and her new baby boy moved from Ft. Dix into her in-laws home in Washington, D.C., while Dr. Bill Hyde honorably served our country as a combat surgeon for over two years.

Opal went on to have two more sons, David and Drew and devoted her life to being a full-time mother for these three boys. The kind of mother who was there when they left for school in the morning and when they returned home each afternoon. Bill returned to D.C. from the war and they bought their first home on Quackenboss Street N.W. Washington, D.C.  While Bill quickly established a top surgical practice in Washington, D.C., including being the first Black surgeon awarded surgical privileges at the renown Washington Hospital Center, Opal was steadily at work building pillars of service and family traditions.  Dinner was served every day in the Hyde Household promptly at 5:00 pm and everyone, family and friends, were always welcome.  With a beautiful smile and a heart of gold, Opal always made everyone feel welcome and loved, and her meals were exquisite. Never a paper plate or plastic utensil, all were treated as royalty and made to feel special.

Traditions became paramount and every Thanksgiving Opal would take the family to visit her family in Carrolton, VA. Two days were spent visiting with her remaining brothers, sisters and their children and relatives (many of whom became quite accomplished also including Gail Fisher, actress “Manix”, General Earl Brown, 3-star Air Force fighter pilot, Roger Brown, NFL Detroit Lions defensive lineman and Chris Brown, singer).  After Carrolton family visits, the Hyde family would head over the bridge and stay in Williamsburg at the Williamsburg Lodge & Inn.    Eventually other families followed her lead and dozens more DC families traveled to Williamsburg and spent Thanksgiving in Williamsburg, VA. The families would get together, shop at the famous Pottery Fair, eat together at the Lodge restaurant, watch football together and play golf at the Golden Horseshoe Golf Course. What tremendous fun everyone had together sharing Thanksgiving love, and Opal excelled as the “hostess with the mostess” as they would say.

Another family tradition began in the early 1960’s when they visited Falmouth, Massachusetts on Cape Cod at the suggestion of Mr. Henry Peters, a Cape Verdean pharmacist who owned Professional Pharmacy on Georgia Ave NW near Howard University.  Mr, Peters rented to Dr. Hyde his first medical office, but he also owned a home in Falmouth, which he also rented to Dr. Hyde for two weeks every August for a couple of years.  Bill loved the area with its abundance of championship golf courses, countless beaches, New England seafood and ideal weather, and they built a small summer cottage.  Opal would travel with the boys, and often their friends, to the Cape in early July and return after Labor Day, where they would get summer jobs, attend summer school, and hone their golf skills.  Rick would go on to Princeton University to play Division 1 Varsity Golf for four years and become the first Black golfer to compete in the Ivy league, using skills acquired playing in the Massachusetts State Open, The Rhode Island State Open and the Maine State Open.  Bill would join the family every August to relax and he and Opal would take the boys to cranberry bogs, Old Silver Beach and historical points throughout to explore, learn and play. A simple quiet few weeks where her husband was not on call and able to be a Dad.  Again, other families from D.C. began visiting Opal and Bill on the Cape, and many started renting and buying their own property on the Cape to spend the summers.  Opal’s sister Ginny built a summer home on nearby Martha’s Vineyard, and what parties they hosted often with golf on the Cape and a quick ride on the Island Queen for evening gatherings on Martha’s Vineyard. These, Inevitably, leading to dancing to Chuck Brown’s “Bustin' Loose".

Aunt Opal as she was affectionately known to the children of her many brothers and sisters, was always there with sound advice, support and guidance. Giving honest and open thoughts guiding them through life’s many choices.  However, more than being a talker she was a doer. And her support was boundless.

Opal had a love of travel beyond compare. Something she passed on genetically to all of her grandchildren. Her constant travel companion was her sister Virginia (Ginny), and together they would travel the world.  Literally the world.  London, Paris, Spain, Israel, China and many more trips and cruises would fill these two with joy. The postcards and pictures show us that Opal lived with adventure in her spirit and a quest for knowledge to experience life to the fullest. Mrs. Elsie Bryant was also her frequent travel buddy, and they visited spots all over the world, as well as Blues Alley in Georgetown for music.

Her service to her community, whether DC or Cape Cod was abundant.  She worked tirelessly for the State Department Hospitality and Information Service (“THIS”) helping diplomatic families here on ambassador service integrate into the DC community. She served as the President of the DC chapter of Jack and Jill for several years. Opal was a founding member of the DC Chapter of the LINKS, Inc.  She and Bill were long-time members of 19th Street Baptist Church, even before the church relocated to its present location in 1975.

In the early1960’s Bill and Opal joined Indian Spring Country Club. This was the only major club that allowed Black families to join (at that time). Opal wasted no time in showing the members and the segregated DMV her brilliance and award-winning golf swing.  During her time as a member of ISCC, Opal won the prestigious annual Women’s Club Championship golf tournament three times. She also spent two decades as an elite “A-Team” Intra-Club Competitor for Indian Spring Country Club.  She was the only Black woman competing at that level and she made sure her name, and her trophies, were featured prominently in the entry way of the county club for all to see and inspire other young Black golfers to compete and win..

 Always willing to donate her time, Opal engaged in many volunteer activities. She was a lifelong Founding Member of Washington DC Chapter of the Links Inc. Opal was networking and connecting African American women to make the career and social connections needed. In addition to the Links, Opal served as the President of Jack and Jill, Washington DC chapter.  She received the 1976 Meritorious Service from Eastern region Jack and Jill organization for her hard work and dedication.

In 1983 Opal became a grandmother to her first grandchild William R. Hyde III (Ricky). This would be the first of 6 grandkids she would go on to spoil and guide as a new generation. Ricky, Daniel (deceased), 

Elizabeth, Camille, Jeremy and Jillian were the light of her life - As also became her four great grand kids Ariana, Kayla, Marley and Zoe.  In her later years they all would bring joy and light to her face.  

As a grandmother, Opal hosted several events for the Modern Granny’s organization. Including many trips to Broadway musicals like the Lion King May 15, 1999, New Amsterdam Theatre Lena Horne Lady and Her Music Nederland Theater NYC as well as shows at the Kennedy Center as she and her best friend Elsie Bryant were patrons.

Opal was a daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, and dear friend to many. She was a leader in our community and her character was many faceted. It contained multitudes of traits: Christian,  R.N., Master Bridge player, world traveler, singer, historian, scholar, champion golfer, aesthete of the arts both visual and musical, writer, financial guru, and proprietor of the keenest sense of fashion, style and grace.  She was a fierce advocate for women’s rights and the civil rights of the underprivileged worldwide.

In her latter years she suffered from Alzheimer’s.  However, even though often unable to speak, she galvanized communities everywhere she went with her boundless love, extraordinary beauty and that fierce smile that radiated the love of God – she was and always will be “Opal”.

 

Elegance in Motion
For Memom

Opals are rare— stones that catch the light and hold it, shifting colors with every glance, Never quite the same twice.
They are treasured for their depth, for the quiet fire they carry inside.
So was she— our Opal.

She moved through the world like it was art. There was grace in the way she stood,
poise in the way she listened, and warmth in the way she smiled,
as if she carried a thousand sunsets in her memory.

She loved beautiful things— but not just the polished, not just the perfect.
She saw beauty in the everyday, in a teacup from a London café,
in the sparkle of Paris lights after rain, in the quiet hush of a temple deep in China.

Travel was not escape for her— it was presence. A way to connect.

She stood before the pyramids in Egypt, walked the winding streets of Rome,
and somehow, she brought pieces of those places back with her—
not just as souvenirs, but as experiences, as energy, intricate layers of herself.

She passed that wonder on to us—her grandchildren, wide-eyed and eager.
She gave us photos, maps and books, but more than that,

she gave us a way of seeing— of stepping into the world with reverence,

curiosity, and the belief that every place, every person, has something to teach.

She taught us how to notice— to slow down, to savor, to treat each day like a postcard
we might one day want to keep.

She is gone now, but her spirit lingers—
in the elegance of a timeless outfit,
in the scent of Chanel No. 5,
in the thrill of setting out somewhere new with an open heart.

We love you Memom.

Your passport is stamped with love.
Your journey continues in all of us.