City Lauds Servant Leader Couple With Honorary Street Designation

Clausell Family Memorial Way Marker to Adorn Alabama Street

October 24, 2025

The City of Tallahassee and community will pay lasting tribute to the late Rev. Dr. James Aaron Clausell and Rev. Dr. Bernyce Hall Clausell through an honorary street designation. The couple were longtime Tallahassee residents whose lives were defined by their dedication to ministry, volunteer service and civil rights leadership.

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, Alabama Street from Arkansas Street to Old Bainbridge Road will receive the honorary designation of Clausell Family Memorial Way. Family, friends and neighbors will join the City of Tallahassee to officially unveil the sign at a 10 a.m. ceremony at the Lawrence-Gregory Community Center, located at 1115 Dade Street. The Tallahassee City Commission approved the honorary designation at its September 17 meeting.

The Clausells lived and worked in the Griffin Heights neighborhood. In 1958, they built Calvary Baptist Church on the corner of Joe Louis and Arizona streets with their personal funds. The Clausells were a power couple of their time. He was a full-time pastor, and she was a full-time schoolteacher who earned her undergraduate and master's degrees at Florida A&M University. The couple, who had two daughters, Mary and Aaronetta, were known for driving around the neighborhood each Sunday, picking up children for Sunday School and church.

Both were also active in the Civil Rights Movement. Rev. Dr. James Clausell held leadership positions in the Baptist State Convention (Florida) and worked with the late Rev. C.K. Steele and other ministerial leaders on Operation Breadbasket, an economic empowerment program designed to uplift Black communities nationwide. After her husband's retirement in 1978, Rev. Dr. Bernyce Clausell, also a licensed and ordained minister, was elected to succeed him, becoming the first female Missionary Baptist pastor in the state. He died the next year, and she remained in the pulpit until her retirement in 1996.

During the years that followed, until her death in 2015 at the age of 98, Rev. Dr. Bernyce Clausell continued her work in the community. In 2009 she was a recipient of the Oasis Center for Women and Girls' Trailblazer Award.

The City will post a video of the ceremony on YouTube.com/CityofTLH following the event.