Alumna cited for lifetime of service at home and at work
The mantra, “There’s no point in being alive if you can’t help others,” defines the life of Audrey Jackson.
This commitment to service coincided with a business to nursing career change in the years after Audrey attended the then Australasian Missionary College.
Audrey completed her training at Sydney Adventist Hospital (“the San”) in 1953 before moving to Victoria to study midwifery and work at the Warburton Sanitarium and Hospital. She returned to the San in 1957 as charge nurse in the operating theatre. Five years at North York Branson Hospital in Toronto, Canada, followed—Audrey started as a nurse and finished as supervisor, relieving the director of nursing.
Two more San roles—charge nurse on the surgical ward and head of the nursing school; Audrey loved helping students with their academic challenges—bookended a Diploma of Nursing Administration from The University of Sydney in 1964. Audrey received an award from the Governor-General for having the highest marks in the course. Her longest tenure came next, a decade as director of nursing at Rest Haven Hospital in Sidney, British Columbia, also in Canada. Retirement beckoned after a return to Australia, 12 years in other nursing roles and to denominational service as a charge nurse at Adventist Aged Care—Kings Langley in Sydney.
As a student of George Greer’s at Avondale, Audrey grew in confidence as a musician—she sang in the new symphonic choir and continued to sing in choirs into her late 70s. The experience at Avondale helped Audrey become a funeral and wedding singer in Sidney, which would also name her as businesswoman of the year.
Audrey “adopted” two at-risk daughters while in Canada. This ability to connect with those younger began in Wahroonga, where Audrey and the young adults at the Seventh-day Adventist Church organised visitations to youth detention centres, hospitals and nursing homes. She would also do the same in Sidney, where her youth dorcas society also sent clothes to refugees. Audrey continues to volunteer in retirement, including 10 years at Cooranbong Community Services Centre.
The Class of 1947 honours Audrey Jackson for her commitment to service, professionally and privately.
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