THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605140141
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SCOTT McCASKEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Some of her friends said she would be 99 before she graduated.
Others tried to discourage her altogether.
But now, after six trying years, those same friends knew that 44-year-old Catherine Jones-Lewis would be wearing a big grin with her cap and gown.
``It's been a struggle, but it's worth every bit of it,'' said Jones-Lewis, who graduated from Norfolk State University on Sunday at Scope, earning a bachelor's degree in social work. ``I'm am just so excited.''
A resident of the Lynnbrook Landing section of Virginia Beach, Jones-Lewis says things are going great now but remembers all the years of hard work - in and out of classroom - before she received her diploma.
In 1969, she left Kempsville High School during her senior year to get married. After having two children, she spent more than 10 years working in fast-food restaurants and retail stores, earning a GED along the way.
She was divorced in 1981 and remarried within two years. By the end of the decade, fed up with a lack of any real direction, she decided to go to college.
``Working these jobs just wasn't what I wanted,'' she said. ``No career, no future, nowhere.''
In 1990, she took a nurse's assistant course at Lynn Shores Manor nursing home, then enrolled in Norfolk State's nursing program, working 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the nursing facility and attending school at night.
She then had a change of heart and decided to pursue a degree in social work, which caused her to lose credits.
``I liked nursing, but I was a teenage mother, and I knew I could better help teenagers doing social work,'' she explained. ``I knew it would be worth it.''
Enrolling in school full time, she also took a part-time job doing telemarketing work for the Lillian Vernon company. The schedule was trying, but things became even more difficult at home. Marital conflicts developed and forced her to move with her 9-year-old son to low-income housing. She joined several spouse support groups.
``Things were pretty bad for several months,'' Jones-Lewis said. ``We almost got divorced. I was discouraged and thought about quitting everything. But we got family counseling and guidance from our church and eventually patched things up.''
Then light at the end of the educational tunnel began to show. In April, Jones-Lewis finished required programs in family crisis intervention training with the American Red Cross at the Portsmouth Naval Hospital. She took her last exam at Norfolk State May 1.
``It's been an ordeal,'' she said. ``Some people told me I was too old to be in school. But I'm the only one of my siblings to have a college education.''
She's now passing out resumes and volunteering with the American Red Cross of Tidewater at 611 Brambleton Ave. She hopes to get a full-time position.
``I love working with families, and I like the way the Red Cross does business,'' she said. ``Families and their problems are something I can relate to.''
Jones-Lewis, however, says she isn't finished with school yet.
``I would like to get a job at the Navy Family Service Center, but they require a master's,'' she said. ``I think I'll get a year's experience in the work force and then go part time for a master's. I hope to have it by age 50.''
She describes herself as ``an average student but a struggler,'' working for everything she has. Her message to young girls and people in general is: ``You can make mistakes and still go on to be successful.''
Jones-Lewis, a mother of three and grandmother of four, is a role model for her niece, Mary Delores Hinton.
``I hadn't been to school in 23 years, and she encouraged me to sign up,'' said Hinton, a 41-year-old Norfolk resident. ``I'm starting at St. Leo College on the Norfolk Naval Base May 18. I'm majoring in psychology. I told my aunt if she could do it with everything she's been through, I can, too.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by VICKI CRONIS
Red Cross volunteer Catherine Jones-Lewis, 44, graduated from
Norfolk State on Sunday at Scope.
by CNB