Vet meets family of Bay Pines VA first Black female employee

PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. — A veteran working at the Bay Pines VA recently discovered a book in the archives that details the life of the first African American woman to work there in the 1940s.

It’s a piece of history that he was hoping to share with the woman’s family if he ever found them.

Spectrum Bay News 9 first reported on the late Deotha Parsons story earlier this month . Parson’s rich history of being the first female African American employee to work at Bay Pines VA in the 1940s is all laid out in a book.

The book is housed in the archives at the Bay Pines VA. That’s where hospital coordinator for the Disabled American Veterans, John Makas, first discovered it six months ago.

He said he knew then, he had to find and connect Parsons’ family with the book.

After the story aired an