By Sarah Morgan Johnson

Whenever University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing Assistant Professor and Co-Coordinator of the Adult-Gero Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Specialty Jennifer Drummonds, DNP, CRNP, ANP-BC (MSN 2012, DNP 2018), walks past the building’s archival display, she feels herself pulled to the same old black and white photo behind the glass.

This photo is a picture of the Hillman Hospital Training School for Nurses class of 1925, which became part of the university in 1945. With the help of Adjunct Associate Professor and School of Nursing Archives Coordinator Lynn Stover Nichols, PhD, RN, PED-BC, SANE, ANEF (BSN 1989, MSN 1993, PhD 2000), and School of Nursing Archivist Patricia Cleveland, RN, MSN (BSN 1973, MSN 1975), Drummonds found out she was related to one of the nursing graduates in the photo she had been so drawn to. Today, Drummonds feels even more connected to her alma mater and place of work.

“When I began working at UAB, I knew that my great aunts had worked there in the past as nurses, but I hadn't made the connection to the School of Nursing until I joined the faculty. Seeing the display case of nursing artifacts inspired me to delve deeper into that history. Now, knowing that I have a long-term connection with the School of Nursing and UAB Medicine makes being part of this legacy even more special. I deeply love the nursing profession and am so grateful to have nursing in my blood,” Drummonds said.

Drummonds has always had an interest in family history, and she knew her great aunts Ethel Susie Hall and Stella Eloise Hall Walker were graduates of Hillman Hospital Training School for Nurses. In October, she emailed Nichols and Cleveland to see if there was any information on her aunts in the School’s archives.

Cleveland had a file on the Hall sisters, and she knew UAB Archives in the Lister Hill Library had documents on the sisters that Stella's son Ray Walker Jr. had donated. Cleveland, Drummonds and Nichols looked through photos and the Hall sisters’ diplomas and nursing licenses. There they also found the exact photo Drummonds had seen in the archival display of the Hillman graduates, but this one had the names of the graduates on the back. Drummonds was elated to find out that her great aunt Stella Hall Walker was one of the graduates pictured in the School’s oldest student group photo.

Stella Hall Walker graduated in 1925, and Ethel Hall graduated in 1929. After graduation, they both worked as OR nurses at Hillman Hospital. Ethel served as a captain with the Army Nurse Corps in World War II and continued her career as a military nurse.

Drummonds has worked as a nurse and nurse practitioner at UAB Medicine for more than 20 years, so it was surreal to realize how connected her career has been to her great aunts’. She is so grateful to Nichols and Cleveland for their expertise and interest in her family history.

“I felt so welcomed by the archives team. You never want to be a bother to someone, but they showed a genuine interest in my family’s history. I was able to ask all my questions, and they looked through all the documents with me,” Drummonds said.

For Nichols and Cleveland, connecting a modern-day nurse to her nursing ancestors was a joy.

“What we strive to do in the archives is help people appreciate nursing history and understand our collective nursing roots. Being able to connect somebody to their ancestors and help them explore their family was one of those once in a lifetime experiences as an archivist. We were able to bring the history we work to preserve in the archives alive for someone else to enjoy,” Nichols said.

If Drummonds could speak to her great aunts today, she would tell them how she walked in their nursing footsteps in the very place they began their own careers.

“I am so grateful for my aunts and their service as nurses. I know they would be so proud of UABSON's legacy and the fact that they were there at the beginning. The UAB legacy will forever be our connection from the past, to the present and future. I am honored to be here now, boldly blazing forward,” Drummonds said.