NEWBERRY — On Monday afternoon employees of Newberry County Memorial Hospital gathered to surprise fellow employee June Nelson and celebrate her 80th birthday.
Nelson began working for the hospital in 1969 — her 47 years making her the hospital’s longest serving employee.
“Ms. June’s great. She keeps us all straight. She makes sure everything’s done by the book,” said Kay Traylor, director of inpatient nursing who has worked with Nelson since 1993.
Nelson was born just down the road in Clinton but not long after, her family relocated to Wisconsin.
They returned to South Carolina when she was 15 years old as a warmer climate was crucial for her mother’s health, she said.
Nelson graduated from Newberry High School and after working at a bank for a while she decided she wanted to try something else. She started at the hospital on Aug. 26, 1969, receiving just a single day of training.
“The next day I was thrown to the wolves by myself. I didn’t really know what I was doing,” she said.
However, it didn’t take long for Nelson to catch on and she has since earned a reputation as someone who is very much in the know.
“If you ask her what’s going on, she can tell you more than the doctors can sometimes,” commented Debra Roberts, vice president of patient care services.
In 1976 the new hospital facility was opened in its current location and Nelson has had a front row seat to numerous changes over the course of her decades-long career.
Among the changes Nelson has experienced over the years are the shift from paper to computers, the complete overhaul of medicine distribution with the addition of the hospital’s pharmacy and the sheer growth of the hospital’s facilities and staff.
“I knew everybody. Right now you don’t know a lot of these people,” she said.
Nelson has no children and never married, although she said she once considered the prospect.
“If I get a feeling for something — that it doesn’t feel right, you can’t budge me,” she said.
Marriage would have prevented Nelson from leading the life of her choice she said — traveling all over the United States as well as Europe and Canada.
“I’ve just had what I consider a wonderful life,” she said.
In 2001 Nelson briefly tried retirement on for size and decided it just didn’t fit. Not even a slew of ailments could sideline her for too long.
In August of that year she underwent surgery for cataracts and was soon after diagnosed with colon cancer.
She was back at work in early November.
Only recently has Nelson cut down her hours to part-time, citing the exhaustion of 12-hour shifts.
“I just had to slow down a little bit,” she said.
Nelson currently works the night shift as a ward secretary in medical surgery a few days each week.
“I love it. I really do,” Nelson said. “It’s something different everyday.”
Nelson said she feels good and as of the present she has no plans for retirement.