Leadership Podcast

Karen Sherman, the interviewee, grew up in the countryside near Bristol, Virginia, and had a childhood centered around the church. The church played a major role in the culture of the Tennessee-Virginia border area. She became a nurse and worked in labor and delivery, finding joy in witnessing new life. Her favorite part of her career was the delivery room. She fondly remembers the slower pace and more meaningful interactions of her childhood, which she misses in today's fast-paced world. Karen Sherman is the interviewee on my podcast. She is my paternal grandmother, and she grew up in the countryside near Bristol, Virginia, and lived among the Tennessee-Virginia border and a community rich in Appalachian culture. She eventually went on to become a labor and delivery nurse in East Tennessee. Her stories of childhood and her life's work are fascinating to listen to. Enjoy. Brief picture of your childhood, and what is one word or phrase that you think sums up your childhood experience? Love. Okay. And an experience, a brief, would be probably my earliest memories are of being in church because that was our social circle, and we didn't have a car, so we didn't go many places unless we went with someone, so the church was close by, and that was kind of the social center. What was the culture that surrounded your childhood growing up on the Tennessee-Virginia border? What do you think about that? The culture, probably, yes, I would definitely say that the church played a major role in the culture in that area, and for most people, I think, and in my family, most definitely, since my father was a lay minister, and as I say, the earliest memories were of being taken to church three times a week, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. Can you explain how you got to where you are today, becoming a nurse and then making a career in the late 60s, early 70s? Yes, well, when I was in high school, as most high schoolers probably, to a certain extent, you don't really know what you want to do, and I thought maybe I wanted to be a secretary, so I had taken some business courses, but it didn't really interest me that much, and I had a couple of my mother's sisters who were licensed practical nurses, and we had a nursing program in Kingsport, which was 30 minutes from my house, and so I decided I would try that, and that was a very good fit, as it turns out for me, so I went straight to nursing, which was Holston Valley, and I worked in labor and delivery, and the G. Williams floor. What was your favorite part of your career? Well, most definitely, I would say meeting Thomas, the high life boy, but the favorite part of the clinical area, I think, was most definitely the delivery room, watching new life, and I always say to people, you know, there's not a happier place to work when everything goes good, and there's not a sadder place to work when it doesn't, so, but that was my favorite part. What is your clearest memory of it? I would have to say just the everyday, it was just a happy time, like I said, with lots of love, and not, with childhood friends coming over just to play, not with lots of toys, but to just play outside, so, in general, memories would be just enjoying my brother and I just being outside playing, but, you know, those are very precious memories now. What's one thing you miss specifically from your childhood? Other than the people that, of course, have gone on, what you, you know, you basically miss, but from child, you know, it's just, you know, as a child, things were so much slower, and people had so much more time to just interact and be with each other, and I guess that, I miss that, because now everything is, you know, with instant, things were instant, and devices and all, we just, you know, everything, people expect it to be hurry up and go, you know, and, you know, back when I was a child, there was, there was no hurry up and go, it was just slow, you know, and so I guess that, that probably would be something that if I could, I'd turn back the clock just a little, you know, for sure.