Going back to school

He can’t talk about it without beaming. Jerome Gray is a college student again at 53.

Jerome Gray, a former lieutenant at St. Clair Correctional Facility and Navy veteran, decided in May 2016 to shift careers and pursue nursing school at Jefferson State Community College, which began last month. The Trussville resident will be the third nurse in his household, following his wife of 30 years, Lorri, and son, Zackery, just as Zackery and his other son, Matthew, followed his path into the Navy.

“I never dreamed at 53 years old that I’d be back in a classroom full time, but here I am. That’s the career path I’ve chosen now,” Jerome Gray said. “I’d kicked around the idea of going back to nursing school, and at this juncture of my life it was something we were able to do.”

While the numbers of 50-plus workers seeking new jobs has increased since the recession almost a decade ago, Harvard Business Review reported in 2010 that only 6 percent of people 45 and older actually change careers on their own accord, while 80 percent say they’ve considered a change. 

The change came after Jerome Gray grew unhappy at St. Clair where assaults, stabbings and inmate overpopulation have been on the rise in recent years. He walked away from the prison system May 22, 2016, and began his prerequisite classes three days later at Jeff State.

Since leaving St. Clair, Gray has continued his moonlighting job at Advance Auto Parts on Main Street in Trussville. It is there he was awarded the Trussville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Customer Service Award in December. 

He was nominated by an anonymous woman who, on a cold, wet November night, showed up at Advance with car trouble. Jerome Gray determined the issue was corrosion around the battery connections. He spent 30 minutes cleaning the connections, at no charge, and gave the woman tips to avoid the problem happening again. While the woman was surprised and grateful for the service, Gray said it happens all the time.

On Dec. 30, a University of Alabama student on his way to the Peach Bowl pulled up to the shop claiming his car smelled like rotten eggs. Jerome Gray assessed the alternator was cooking the battery. He spoke to the student’s father on the phone and helped the student change the alternator and battery in the parking lot, so he could continue on his way. 

“We’re not a repair shop, but went ahead and did it for him, because he was a customer in need,” Jerome Gray said. 

That’s the attitude Jerome Gray has about life and will carry into his new career.

Lorri Gray, who works PRN as a nurse at St. Vincent’s, recalls Jerome Gray’s reaction to nursing school orientation this past fall. 

“He called and said, ‘I know where I’m supposed to be, I know that sounds strange at 53 years old,’” Lorri Gray said. “That’s the first time he’d felt that way.”

Jerome Gray said he felt that way because nursing is a field that will both challenge him and be rewarding. 

To date, he said the most rewarding part of his three careers was his time in the Navy, which began in 1984. He served seven years active duty as an electronics technician and search-and-rescue swimmer. One of his most rewarding moments was rescuing a co-pilot and crew member from a helicopter that crashed off the coast of Puerto Rico. In 1992 he entered the reserves and went to work as a project manager at Rome Industries for the next decade. He began working for the Alabama Department of Corrections in 2002 and was recalled to active duty by the Navy on Halloween 2005. He spent a year in Kuwait before retiring in 2007. 

His time on active duty after 9/11 qualified him for 50-percent coverage of school under the Post-9/11 GI Bill – a benefit Zackery Gray began talking to him about since he graduated form UAB and entered the Navy as an officer in 2013. Jerome Gray said he hopes he can one day repay his fellow veterans by working at a Veterans Affairs Medical Center. 

“I just enjoy giving back and helping people. I’m retired military and a disabled veteran, so my goal is to go to the VA as a nurse, so I can give back even more,” he said. “I will be able to connect with those guys like nobody else can, because they’ve been there, and I’ve been there.”

Zackery Gray, a former ICU nurse at Walter Reed Medical Center, is now a PACU nurse at Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia. He said he welcomes the tables being turned from asking his dad about Navy matters to answering his dad’s nursing questions.

“He’s going to have a lot of fun doing it. I’m excited to be able to give that advice and reverse roles a little bit. I’d like for him to shadow me sometime or come work with me sometime,” Zackery Gray said. “I’m excited to see what kind of questions he’s going to have for my mom and me, because he’s always been around it and always heard it. It’s going to be interesting to see him come at it from a different angle.”

Lorri Gray said she is also excited about her husband’s nursing future.

“I think he’ll be very happy in the career. I’ve always loved being a nurse, and I guess that showed with them (Jerome and Zackery), because I’ve had a varied amount of experience. They’ve been able to see that from the outside looking in,” she said.

Zackery Gray said it is his hope that one day the three of them can work together in the same hospital or on a travel assignment.