About Us

About The Bakersfield Chapter of the Links, Incorporated

The Bakersfield Chapter The Links, Incorporated is part of the Western Area of the Links, Incorporated. The geographic area of the Chapter includes the following cities: Metropolitan Arvin, Delano, Frazier Park, Lamont, Taft, Tehachapi and Wasco.

The Chapter is made up of 25 women who give over 48 service hours a year to the Bakersfield community through projects and programs that relate to the five listed service areas. Some members give well over 100 service hours per year and the Chapter makes donations to various youth related causes.

The Bakersfield Chapter is part of the Links, Incorporated, an international, not-for-profit corporation, established in 1946. The membership consists of nearly 14,000 professional women of color in 282 chapters located in 41 states, the District of Columbia and the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. It is one of the nation’s oldest and largest volunteer service organizations of extraordinary women who are committed to enriching, sustaining and ensuring the culture and economic survival of African Americans and other persons of African ancestry.

The members of The Links, Incorporated are business and civic leaders, role models, mentors, activists and volunteers who work towards a common vision by engaging like-minded organizations and individuals for partnership. Links members contribute more than 500,000 documented hours of community service annually – strengthening their communities and enhancing the nation.

Our History

Charter Members
The Bakersfield Chapter The Links, Incorporated was chartered by eight distinguished members.

Link Susianna Eaves Anderson is a native of Tallahassee, Florida. She attended Florida A & M University, Tallahassee, Florida where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education. She came to Bakersfield in 1960 and was employed by the Bakersfield City School District. After 30 plus years, she retired from the Bakersfield City School District in 1990. She later went on to receive a Master of Arts Degree in Education from California State University.

Link Willye Pearl Collier was the organizer of the Chapter. Willye Pearl grew up in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She received her Bachelor of Science Degree from Tuskegee Institute in 1943 and her Master of Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin. Before Willye Pearl moved to California, she established a major for dietitians at Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was hired at Bakersfield College in September of 1964 where she taught nutrition and home economics to nursing students.

A native Floridian, Link Millie Jones served the Chapter with distinction and has worked with every Facet. Link Jones earned a Bachelor of Science and Masters Degree from and is a retired Learning Disabled Specialist. She spent 38 years teaching military children of which 23 years were spent teaching at Edwards Air Force Base. Her interest in youth prompted her to serve as a Girl Scout Leader which led her to becoming the first black neighborhood chairperson for the Girl Scouts in Tampa, Florida. She also organized the first Black sorority in the Antelope Valley in 1981 and the first Rhoer Club sponsored by Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.

Link Fern Matlock is a native of Oklahoma and came to Bakersfield in 1943. Link Fern Matlock worked closely with the Department of HUD for The Links 1979 and 1980 Housing Conferences. She was employed by Kern County Housing Authority and was the manager for over thirty years.

Link Alma Lee Nealy was an organizer of The Bakersfield Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. Link Nealy opened her doors to the starry-eyed ladies who met for the first time at her home to begin the process of forming a Link Chapter. Link Alma Nealy grew up in Hillsborough, Texas. She received her Bachelors of Arts Degree with a double Major in Music Education and Elementary Education from Paul Quimm College in Waco, Texas. She received her Masters of Arts Degree from Prairie View A & M University in Prairie, Texas. She moved to Bakersfield, September 19, 1969 and was employed as a teacher in the Bakersfield City School District for thirty-three years. She retired May 1999. Link Alma Nealy’s visionary talents are well known throughout Kern County. She is a Charter Member of the People’s Missionary Baptist Church. She was the organizer and first President of the Bakersfield Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.

A 1961 graduate of Southern University A & M College and University with a degree in Education and Social Sciences, Mary continued graduate work at the University of La Verne. She is a retired educator of forty (40) years having taught in the Phoenix, Tucson, Arizona and Bakersfield City School Districts. Link Mary Tomlin worked with the McGraw Hill Books Publishing Company and the State of California to choose textbooks for a variety of school districts. She has received numerous awards and honors including Teacher of The Year in 1994 by the African American Federation of Teachers, Teacher of The Year Hall of Fame in 1988 and 1994. Docent and Volunteer of The Year by the Kern County Museum and Kern County Museum Foundation in 2001. Mary Tomlin is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.

Link Polly Warren is a native Oklahoman and the family moved to California in 1943. She attended San Francisco State College and majored in Spanish Education. Link Warren was employed by the County of Kern as the Director of the Head Start Program. She was the first woman to Chair the Employers Resource Training Council. Link Polly Warren was a member of the Kern County Grand Jury for two years and served as Secretary and Vice Foreman.

Link Doris Wilson, a native of Bainbridge, Georgia, and attended Morris Brown College and received a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology and History. She also attended California State University, Los Angeles and earned her teaching credential in Elementary Education in 1951. She moved to Bakersfield in 1951 and was employed by the Bakersfield City School District. After working with youth for thirty-eight years, she retired in 1989. Link Doris Wilson is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.