The Lord’s Workin’ with Her

Mary Bray is sitting in the front office of Ridgeview Health Services when a lady pokes her head around the corner.“Would you like a job?” the lady asks.“Who you talkin’ to, me?” says Mary.“Yes ma’am!”“I just came here with my cousin,” Mary responds. “But what type a job?”“We are hiring an NA. Have any experience?”“I worked as an NA in a hospital, but I haven’t worked in a nursing home.”That was 1973, and the rest is history. Mary Bray has been working at Ridgeview ever since. And hallelujah, because the staff and residents have been blessed by her presence for four decades.At Ridgeview, Mary works as a Restorative CNA. “I take up where therapy leaves off. I do long-term care. Feeding, walking, exercising, putting splints on,” she says.Mary grew up in New Goshen, Indiana, a small town just north of Terre Haute. She says that “nothin’ much” went on during her childhood (the nothing much included going on picnics and swimming with her two brothers).“Like kids’ll do. Normal kids I guess,” says Mary.Mary went to Fayette High School but relocated to Terre Haute when she was sixteen to work for St. Anthony’s hospital. Soon thereafter, she moved to Chicago to work at Edgewater hospital—a move that would prove to be fortuitous. In that high-rise city, Mary met her husband, Max Bray, who, too had moved to Chicago for work. Max was an Alabama boy, born and raised around Empire. Max’s daddy was a coal miner.Max and Mary were soon married and in 1956, moved to Alabama for good. Years went by and the Brays raised their two children in a Christian home.When Mary was hired at Ridgeview, she worked on Hall 2, making $1.62 an hour. She got paid once a month. But that was before Joe Kelley arrived.“When Mr. Kelley took over, it really got good,” Mary says.Around that time, Mary started singing in the choir at Sumiton Church of God. She also taught Sunday school.Mary’s faith has always carried her throughout the years, but in 2005, she would realize how desperately she needed it when her only daughter was killed in a car wreck.Mary believes that her faith and her friends at Ridgeview helped her to cope. “Of course, I’m a Christian,” Mary says. “If it hadn’t have been for the people at Ridgeview and the church, I wouldn’t have gotten through my daughter’s death.”After the accident, Mary welcomed her daughter’s two young boys into her home and raised them. One is 22 now and the other is 18. She’s now a great-grandmother.Mary is a favorite among residents and staff at Ridgeview. In fact, a fellow staff member requested that this article be written on Mary.“I like the patients, I like the people,” Mary says of Ridgeview. “It’s a real friendly place to work. Homey.”As for the residents: “They’re all fun. Loving. I kid and carry on with them. I think they like that, too. They’re friendly. Real nice.”In her spare time, Mary has enjoyed taking trips with the Sumiton Church of God choir, canning, flying (literally) around the South with Max, and reading “Amish” books (we’ll get to that in a minute).Mary sings with two groups at SCOG: the Senior Choir and the “Spirit Singers.” Those good folks often go on singing trips. Cozumel, Mexico. Colorado. New Orleans.“All over,” Mary says.Mary’s husband is a pilot, who often takes to the skies while Mary’s at work.And the couple has been soaring for 59 years.From time to time, she goes to Indiana to visit a brother, but says she hasn’t gone in 4 or 5 years.Back home, Mary says she does housework but doesn’t like too much TV. “Max is hard of hearing and likes the TV loud,” laughs Mary. “I don’t care for TV, period.”Instead, she’ll curl up with an Amish book. What’s an Amish book, you ask?“They’re clean and they’ve got a lot of scriptures in ‘em. More less a Christian book,” Mary admits. “Romantic.”Mary developed a fascination for this genre several years ago when a “Mrs. Brown” introduced her. “She was a Christian lady and a lot of girls went to her for stuff. She got me to reading the Amish books,” Mary says. “I took ‘em home and started readin’ em and I’ve been reading ever since. That’s been two or three year ago.”Mary also insists that the “romance” in these novels is rather innocent.“They hardly kiss in ‘em. They don’t even rub noses in ‘em,” she says.Mary also likes to can. “Jellies, soups. Corn. Tomatoes. I got a freezer full of stuff. My husband deer hunted. We put up deer meat,” she says.But all of these things pale in comparison to the most important thing in her life: her faith. Listen to her as she describes it:"I love everybody, I reckon. I don’t have any enemies—I hope! I can get along with anybody. Make friends with most anybody. One thing, I’m a Christian! One thing, I love God. If it hadn’t been for him, I wouldn’t have gotten over what happened to my daughter. She’s in a better place. If it wasn’t for this place [Ridgeview] and the Lord, I wouldn’t be where I’m at today. And my family. They’ve stuck by me...But you know the Lord’s workin’ with you. The Lord’s talked to me a lot through the years. Actually when my boss was hurt, many many year ago, I didn’t know nothing about it. I was in a room working. The Lord told me, “Pray for Mr. Kelley” …here come Belva tellin’ me he’d been in a wreck."The Lord’s working with us. What an incredible thought.He’s there every step of the way, from New Goshen, Indiana, to Chicago, and back to Alabama. He’s there when we relocate to Terre Haute. And he’s there when daughters die too young.He causes us to love. He takes us on adventures to Mexico and Colorado and New Orleans. He surrounds us with comforting friends and coworkers and companions. He speaks to us through Amish books. He shadows us in the halls of a nursing home.And we know this, thanks to the life of Mary Bray. 78