Annie Hunter Jones RETIRES FROM METHODIST CHARLTON MEDICAL CENTER AFTER 57 YEARS OF SERVICE
Dallas, Texas – Annie Hunter Jones retired from Methodist Charlton Medical Center on March 29, 2019, after 57 years of service.
Annie was born in Crossroads, Texas, Henderson County to the parents of Henry and Marzena Hunter. She shared her space and enjoyable childhood memories with three brothers and six sisters. She completed the 10th grade at Crossroads Colored School during the 1950s.
After her marriage to husband, Marshall Jones, they relocated to Dallas, Texas sometime in 1960s. After realizing she had the patience and compassion to take care of sick people. She decided to take an entry-level job as a nurse’s aide at Methodist Dallas; there was no surprise; she fell in love with her duties.
The nurses who wore the starched spotless-white winged caps which was a nurse’s professional trademark during that era was an encouragement to Annie; she wanted to move to a different position in the nursing field.
But, it was in the early 1960s, and Annie was an African-American woman without a high school diploma because of the segregated school in East Texas highest grade level to complete was the 10th grade.
Annie was determined to fulfill her desire of becoming a licensed nurse so while raising her seven children she continued her education and received her GED diploma. Soon afterward, she enrolled in the Dallas Methodist Hospital School of Nursing. In 1966 she completed her education, achieving her goal as a Licensed Vocational Nurse (LVN) and at last she had the privilege to wear the starch, spotless, white-winged cap that she always loved almost as much as her love for working with the patients. Duties at home were shared with her late husband, Marshall (deceased, 1991) while she worked nighttime with him working during the daytime.
Today, the white cap is no longer a necessity attire; it has been replaced with a stuffy anachronism. Before retirement, Ms. Jones continued to work the night shift on the surgical recovery unit and wore tidy scrubs with a stethoscope around her neck and the stuffy anachronism on her neatly styled hair. She would sometimes reminisce about the starched, spotless-white winged cap she worked so hard to wear.
During Annie’s tenure at Methodist Charlton Medical Center, she earned many awards because of her patient philosophy, “a good nurse knows what a patient needs, sometimes they need to know when a pain relief can be given or how they are going to feel after surgery. Even a few would like to know why they can’t have a cheeseburger. They need somebody to give them their undivided attention in their time of need.”
After working 52 plus years, Annie was recognized with a reserved special parking space which displayed her name, Annie Jones and the number 52+ on a pole.
Annie is a longtime member of Greater New St. John Primitive Baptist Church, located in Dallas.
She plans to enjoy her retirement by spending more time with her family which includes many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
