A Hall of Fame Friend

 

 

Some time in the mid-80's, not long after I moved to Tuscaloosa, I became friends with a wonderful couple! Jane Eure and I worked together at DCH, me as an Occupational Therapist and Jane as a Social Worker in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. We don't actually remember how we became such good friends but one common bond was our love for Alabama Football. We've been everywhere from New Orleans to Oxford to Fayetteville to Columbia, SC, and many more places to cheer on the Crimson Tide. One day, while having beignets and some very strong coffee, at Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans, "her husband" asked me a question.  "What do you call me?" he said, to which I answered "nothing". He was actually Dr. Eure which was much too formal. Mr. Eure also seemed formal and maybe too impersonal and Jerry just didn't work for this southern girl to call a man who was close to my parents age. So I just didn't call him anything at all! We have laughed about this for years! Football wasn't our only travel - the Eure's and I have been to London, Paris, and Los Angeles together. We have visited Beverly Hills, Buckingham Palace, The Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, Windsor Castle and the Arc de Triomphe (when the elevator wasn't working, Jerry and I climbed the steps to the top!) Good times!

 

On Friday, Jerry will be inducted into the 2012 Alabama Social Work Hall of Fame!

 

 

 

2012 Inductee Alabama Social Worker Hall of Fame

 

 

Dr. Gerald Eure, Associate Professor Emeritus,
The University of Alabama School of Social Work

Dr. Eure received his MSW from Tulane University in 1959. He worked in child welfare and family counseling for several years before joining the faculty at the University of Alabama in 1968. He received the EdD from the University in 1975. During his tenure with the School of Social Work, he served as director of field education and BSW program chair. He retired in 1996. Dr. Eure devoted his career to the practice of social work and the quality education of future social workers.

Founded by the Social Work Society at The University of Alabama School of Social Work, the state of Alabama Social Work Hall of Fame honors the accomplishments of some of the state’s most distinguished leaders in the field of social work.

Inductees into the Hall of Fame are acclaimed by their peers and colleagues for their professional status and exemplary leadership. They are also recognized for their creativity and contributions to the knowledge base and practice of social work. All inductees have influenced communities throughout the state.

Social work

Adapted fromWikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    

Social Work (Insert Dr. Gerald Eure)  a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and well being of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or perceived social injustices and violations of their human rights.

Jerry Eure is the epitome of this definition of a social worker - he may have retired from teaching but he has never retired from "improving the quality of life" of any individual, group or community with which he is associated. Jerry and Jane have "been there" for me more times than I can count - in good times and bad - loving and caring for me and my family.

I may not have known exactly what to call Jerry in those early years of our friendship but one thing is for sure - now I can call him my "Hall of Fame" Friend because if there was a "Hall of Fame" for Friends, he would be there, too!

Congratulations, Dr. Eure! (This time it just seems right!)