The Shadow
CLIFTON FORGE – Carol and Jack Lewis have been married since 1976 and over the years, they’ve spent a lot of time together. These days, they’re even studying together.
The Lewises, after careers as engineers, decided to go in a totally different direction. They’re enrolled in the nursing program at Dabney S. Lancaster Community College.
“Carol is the ideal study partner,” says her husband, Jack. “She concentrates, there’s no fooling around. We drill each other.”
“We’re competitive, but it’s a friendly competition,” adds Carol.
The couple decided to relocate to Carol’s family home place after retirement; after living for 15 years in California, they moved back east to Oriskany, a scenic, rural spot on Craig Creek in Botetourt County. Jack was a naval and mechanical engineer with the Coast Guard and holds a degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Carol, who still does some consulting and publishing on the side, was an electrical engineer and holds degrees from the University of Mary Washington and the University of Maryland.
After helping Carol’s mother and other relatives with health issues, and discovering that Jack has some heart problems, they soon realized that there wasn’t easy access to medical care in their new home.
They decided to take action, and took training to become Emergency Medical Technicians. They enjoyed the training so much that they took another advanced EMT course at DSLCC. In the meantime, Botetourt County has responded by adding an emergency response vehicle in their neck of the woods.
“The health care field was so new to me, I found it fascinating,” says Jack. The couple decided to take the logical next step, and they entered the nursing program together.
Jack says that their engineering background has helped them figure dosage calculations, but otherwise, the curriculum is totally different, with its emphasis on the human element. Both admit that learning new material has been a bit of a challenge at their ages – Carol is 60 and Jack is 72 – but they greet the challenge with characteristic good humor. “Sometimes we come up with little stories to help us memorize things,” laughs Carol.
The couple can be seen several hours a day studying in the DSLCC student center on the main campus with other students, many of whom are fresh out of high school.
In fact, their grandson, Michael Russell, who lives in Houston, Texas, has come to DSLCC and is enrolled in the welding program. They also have two granddaughters who live in Houston.
In addition to their college life, the Lewises are members of a band, “The Oriskany Strings”, whose members all reside in Oriskany. “We play mostly old time (pre-bluegrass) country music, like Carter Family and old gospel songs,” explains Carol, who plays banjo and fiddle. “Jack plays a really cool washtub bass fiddle.
We also have a guitar player, another banjo player, and an autoharp player in the group.” The band has cut some CDs, and have played at various venues, such as the Galax Fiddler’s Convention, Blue Ridge Music Center, and some radio shows and festivals. The group’s web site is www.oriskanystrings.com.
In the meantime, the Lewises are on track to complete the Associate Degree in Applied Science by the spring of 2011.
Their plans are to work in rural health care, and perhaps to start some sort of health care-related business.
“We’re so lucky to have DSLCC nearby,” says Carol. Adds Jack: “This is great little community college.
And Dabney’s nursing program has an excellent reputation. We love it.”
