Gladys E. Murray

Location: Hawthorne Inn and Conference Center

Interview by Michael S. Williams
Videos by Jonathan Harmon

Class of 1953

Gladys E. Murray, a native of Cedar Grove, North Carolina, came to Winston-Salem in 1950 and was in the Kate Bitting Reynolds Memorial Hospital School of Nursing class of 1953. She worked in nursing for 36 years before retiring and has only missed one nursing school reunion since they began in 1984.

Murray made the decision to become a nurse as a child after seeing how her grandmother was treated during a hospital stay. Her grandmother's stay included being relegated to treatment in the basement, and that spurred Murray into the field so she could "take care of people."

Currently living in Columbus, Ohio, Murray said she "didn't fear" going to work at any hospital upon graduation because of the training she received from "Katie B." "Really, the students did the work," she said. "We didn't watch somebody do the work. We were doing the work."