Record details
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It was always my dream to become a registered nurse (RN) but time passed and by age 53, I thought I would just be content with the many other blessings life has brought. Growing up in a Christian family (my parents were missionaries and I was raised in the Amazon rain forest in Bolivia) made me realize that I am happiest when I am serving others.
I was attracted to and married my husband Gene because of his values and his faith. He is the oldest in a family of 29 children, four of whom were biological and 25 who were adopted. We married in college and while Gene studied to become a minister, I went to school to become a licensed vocational nurse (LVN). Being a minister’s wife has meant a very rich life – in everything but money. I have worked as an LVN for 30 years and while some of my co-workers were getting new cars, we were getting new kids. We served as foster parents for children until they could be adopted, but some of them, because of their developmental disabilities, were never adopted and were destined to live in institutions. There was no question that we would adopt six of them ourselves and raise them with our three biological children.
Someone said that truly rich people are those whose children run into their arms when their hands are empty. Gene and I are the richest people you will ever meet.
My mother was an RN and I wanted to be one too, but going back to school just wasn’t possible. My old, un-air conditioned car isn’t reliable enough to commute to school in Tyler and I knew I had to keep working anyhow. Then I heard about Tyler Junior College’s nursing program being offered in Jacksonville. Classes were going to be offered right upstairs from where I work at ETMC. They had an LVN to RN transitional class starting and even though the other students were half my age, I knew this was a chance I could not miss. My supervisors have been wonderful in adjusting my work schedule so I can attend classes while still working full time.
My mother, Katherine Arrington, is now 85 and never thought she would see me become an RN. God willing, she is planning to be at my graduation so she can be the one to pin me as a brand new RN. My employers, who have been so great, tell me that I will earn a lot more money when I get that pin and I am looking forward to that.
It hasn’t been easy. I study every chance I get and my family is very supportive. My younger classmates might be able to fail a test and simply shrug it off, but at 53, I won’t have opportunities like this again. I was so afraid that I wouldn’t be up to this challenge. The science and math is hard for anyone but harder still for someone out of school for 30 years. My teacher, Elizabeth Hobbs, told us she was dedicated to our success and she is. She told us that if we were struggling, she would work with us and never give up as long as we didn’t.
I am so grateful to the wonderful people who made this possible. Our leaders in Jacksonville provided start-up funding for the program. East Texas Medical Center made space available in our hospital for a beautiful, new nursing school. Trinity Mother Frances Hospitals and Clinics provided funding to hire caring and committed nursing professors like Ms. Hobbs. Tyler Junior College has an 82-year history of building brighter futures one student at a time, and now they are doing it right here in my city.
- Biography
- Maryjane Mathis is a student, an LVN and mother to nine children. Nursing runs in the family. Her mother was an RN and, growing up, Maryjane remembers her treating Indians along the tributaries of the Amazon River, where they lived. Maryjane is training to become an RN, and her 28-year-old daughter is currently an LVN at ETMC in Carthage. We are proud to claim her as both a student and a TJC Hero and Friend.