Jerry Kirksey joined the U.S. Navy in 1943, responding to Uncle Sam’s war poster plea, “Join the service and help bring home someone you love.” Jerry’s brother served with a U.S. Army recon unit, and Jerry hoped joining would hurry that older brother home.
“I didn’t bring him home,” Jerry says quietly, eyes misty with tears. “He was killed in Normandy not long after D-Day in 1944.”
Pharmacist’s Mate 2nd Class Jerry Kirksey was stationed at Parris Island, South Carolina, until World War II ended. When the U.S. Navy discharged the troops, Jerry acted like a girl and wore a dress home to Dothan, Alabama. You see, Jerry Kirksey would soon become Geraldine (Mrs. J.B.) Hall when her sweetheart returned from the South Pacific where he served four years with the U.S. Army—his final battle the bloody Okinawa campaign.
Never Give Up
Jerry Hall (80) still calls Dothan home, but she made her mark in Christian service somewhere else before returning in 1975. When she interviewed for this article, the lady who walks 2.5 miles daily and volunteers each week at Dothan Medical Center wore a bright red dress and remembered that her late husband never wanted her to wear that color until his eyesight began failing in 1964. After the interview, Jerry drove across town for her 63rd high school reunion—the class of 1942.
“I was born in the woods over near the Georgia line,” Jerry says. “I met my husband at a county fair after riding the school bus to Student Night. J.B. was 10 years older than me. He told me he joined the army and spent 1941-1945 overseas waiting for me to grow up.” Evidently his plan worked; Jerry and J.B. were married for 43 ½ years!
The couple went to Free Will Baptist Bible College as students in 1949. After the school’s dietician left, President L.C. Johnson asked Jerry to take the job until he could find somebody else. She missed graduating with her class, because she had to carry a lighter academic load.
Career Cut Short
Jerry joined the FWBBC faculty in 1954 while attending George Peabody College, eventually earning a second bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree. She taught for 22 years while J.B. served as the college’s maintenance supervisor. Jerry loved teaching college English, but also taught “bonehead” English, biology, English literature, and various Christian education courses.
Her husband’s eyes began deteriorating in 1964. By 1975, J.B. could no longer function at the level he felt his duties as maintenance supervisor required, and he returned to south Alabama. “I did not retire,” Jerry says. “My husband took me back home to Alabama because of his failing eyesight.”
After two surgeries, cancer claimed J.B. Hall on July 10, 1989. Jerry, always a fighter, declared war on her tight finances and remained in the Dothan area working several jobs through the years—Montgomery Ward, secretary for a local church, five years in admissions at a doctor’s office, seven years in sales at J.C. Penney’s.
The FWBBC Years
Looking back on her FWBBC career, Jerry says, “English Lit was the toughest class I ever taught. My favorite was college English. I find it so rewarding when my former students do well, and so disappointing when they fail.”
She earned a reputation as a tough, no-nonsense teacher. “I really wasn’t that mean,” Jerry says. “I just expected them to study.”
She smiles telling how her pastor (Glenn Poston) took one of his college term papers she had marked in red to the pulpit at First FWB Church and read her remarks to the congregation. Glenn thinks Jerry was tough.
As J.B.’s eyesight worsened, FWBBC faculty members Stanley Outlaw and Ken Riggs took him bowling each week. One day Stanley returned grumbling, “It’s bad getting beat by an old man, but it’s embarrassing getting beat by an old blind man!”
A Sister’s Love Annuity
Jerry “retired” from FWBBC before she could fully harness the college’s retirement plan. Her retirement income is small, largely dependent on Social Security and her abbreviated funds from the school.
The six Kirksey sisters have long enjoyed a special relationship. When one of her sisters learned about Jerry’s tight retirement funds, she made a deposit with the FWB Foundation on Jerry’s behalf to provide a gift annuity.
Then she sent Jerry a check instructing her to start a second account with the FWB Foundation. Now, thanks to her sister’s generosity, Jerry has a quarterly revenue stream from one gift annuity and a monthly income from the second annuity.
“My sister knew my funds were limited,” Jerry says, “and this was her way of helping. Believe me, it does.”
Can’t Say No
Jerry Hall may be 80, but she never learned to say no. She teaches an adult Sunday School class for ages 70 and up—a class named after a funeral home. She also does freelance editing, six books at last count. One friend (88) wanted help with a 1,000-page manuscript. Jerry and the 88-year-old writer are shopping for a publisher.
Jerry says, “I don’t know that I’d change one thing in my life if I had it to do over again. God was always in charge, and He still is.”
T.R. Scott is a free-lance writer from Nashville, TN. A journalist for more than 35 years, his articles are featured often in ONE Magazine.
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