03/10/2026
Happy Heavenly Birthday to my late mentor, Clyde A. Poag! 🌹🫶🏿🙏🏾
Clyde absolutely loved that he was born in March because it’s Social Work Month - a profession he lived and breathed both inside and outside of the office.
Clyde was my first real example of what a social worker truly is. I met him during my final year of grad school when he became my site supervisor at the Grand Rapids Urban League. I still remember the day he walked into the office with his confident, smooth Kappa Alpha Psi stroll, set his briefcase down, and started talking to me about life.
He was a therapist who had the rare capacity to listen, challenge, mentor, and cover me all at the same time.
He gave me my first client, a pregnant teenage girl struggling with her mental and emotional health, preparing to enter a life she wasn’t fully equipped for. I remember looking at him and saying, “I can’t do this.”
He looked at me and said, “Yes, you can and this is how I know you can.”
Then in the office she came to sit down. He closed the door behind him, leaving her and me in the room. Lights, camera, action. Whew!
Even though I was very green in the process, Clyde gave me everything I needed to thrive. And he never stopped doing that throughout my career, even while on hospice days away from transition. I sat by his side for hours and hours with my notebook and pen in hand while he continued planting seeds in me, like he always did!
What I adore about my relationship with Clyde is, over time, he became one of my closest friends and a second father to me. He affectionately called me “Sugar Shayne,” after the boxer. I talked to him about so much. He was always direct with me, never telling me what I wanted to hear, but everything he said was coated in compassion and kindness.
I miss him deeply.
He was, and continues to be, the secret weapon behind how I show up today, with the boldness and confidence he instilled in me. I appreciate him for never leaving my side and for still covering me today.
Thank you for everything, Clyde. I’m so grateful I was able to give you your flowers while you were still here.
I will continue the legacy you built in and through me.
I love you. 🫶🏿
