Changing Course

by Debbie Rood

 

We choose majors in college with the intention of sailing into compatible careers, but sometimes life circumstances change. An unexpected predicament or simple life experience awakens our need to do something else and set a new course in life. Meet four Walla Walla College alumni who made one, two, or even four career changes, discovering that it’s not about age or money but about courage and the determination to try.

Taking Charge of Life
 “I believe we have an obligation to advocate for those who need special attention and can’t advocate for themselves,” says Wendy Hernandez, an immigration attorney from Spokane, Wash. Considered a one-woman dynamo from those who know her well, Hernandez lives what she believes.

Working for World Relief, a global organization funded by the National Association of Evangelicals, Hernandez helps refugees from places such as Africa and Asia find transition to a new life of freedom in the United States.

The journey of advocacy, however, took Hernandez down four career paths.

In 1970, Hernandez graduated from Pacific Union College with an associate degree in nursing. She practiced as a nurse, sporadically, for 12 years but mostly stayed at home to raise her children, Becky and Jon.

In 1982, the Hernandez family moved to College Place after Hernandez’s husband, Sergio, was hired as director of financial aid at Walla Walla College. Hernandez was director of student health services from 1986 to 1989 and also in charge of the student assistance program from 1986 to 1999.

All the time she was a nurse, Hernandez recalls, “I was aware that I was not interested as much in the medical component as I was in the psycho-social aspect.” It wasn’t long before she decided to explore the latter.

As a WWC employee, she took full advantage of the opportunity to take one free class per quarter. “One at a time, I began taking classes. I earned my bachelor’s degree in social work in 1987 and kept taking classes, one at time,” she smiles, “until I graduated with my master’s degree in counseling in 1993.” Three years later Hernandez became the director of counseling, a position she held until 1999.

A 2000 move closer to Spokane, Wash. put Hernandez on the road to her new career. Knowing that Gonzaga University was not far away, she pursued her dream to study law.

“Since I was so used to getting up at 5 a.m., I thought that I might as well use that time to study. So I took my lsat, passed, and applied to law school.”

Reactions from her friends and family were an honest mixture. “They were concerned that I was perpetually going to school. I’m sure they thought I was nuts,” she laughs.

But after hearing them say “If you want to do it, then we’re extremely supportive,” she was ready to begin her law studies.

Wendy started law school at Gonzaga University in 2000 and admits that from day one she wondered what she was doing. She was surrounded by law students who were half her age and with different academic backgrounds. “Most of them were competitive, bright, savvy and had political science backgrounds—not backgrounds in nursing or counseling.” It wasn’t easy, she says, but she persevered. In 2003 Wendy Hernandez graduated with her juris doctorate, with honors.

But before practicing law, Hernandez’s new career took a detour. “My daughter and son-in-law, Becky and Kent Cox, offered me a job that I could not refuse.” She spent one year taking care of her grandchild. “Though it was a huge change from the go-go-go of academia,” Wendy confesses, “I just loved it. I think I needed that year off to take care of my grandbaby and me.”

All too soon that year was over, and in August 2004 it was time to get back to looking for a job. Since Hernandez had always been fascinated by immigration issues, she responded to a church bulletin announcement recruiting volunteers to work with refugees at World Relief. The agency had a long-term vision of a legal clinic but was not ready to hire. After reviewing Hernandez’s background in health, mental health and immigration (experience from a student internship), World Relief rushed to find financing. “I just believed there was a divine plan in my being there,” says Hernandez.

“One of the reasons World Relief was interested in hiring me is that a lot of refugees have problems related to medical needs,” Wendy states. “Even for the most healthy refugee or immigrant, putting that medical piece together with their social and legal needs is what the agency had been praying for.”

Hernandez marvels that she was really “given a gift” to be able to go to law school at this stage in her life and then get a job working for World Relief.

Her advice to anyone considering a mid-life career change: “In the first place, I think most people are going to change careers in mid-life. They complain that they are not happy doing what they’re doing, but they can’t make a career switch because of reasons, finances or children. But the bottom line and the cliché dictate: You are going to be five years older anyway. What are you going to do with those five years?”

At 53, Wendy is proof positive that prioritizing and persistence pay off. After all, she asserts, “There’s no excuse not to take charge of your life and achieve your dreams now.”

 

Best of Both Worlds
C. Fred Cornforth knows what he wants and is not shy about saying so.

“I am a vision caster. I like to take a blank canvas and create something that has a world function,” he says. “The toughest part: knowing that I needed to take risks and experiment in order to reach that place in life.”

From pastoring to church leadership to starting a successful business, Fred’s career path has been a fascinating journey.

Cornforth admits to taking the slow road in college. He graduated in 1984 with a major in business, a minor in religion, and experience as a student missionary and task force worker.

From WWC, he began his career working for Faith for Today, a Seventh-day Adventist ministry, and then pastoring an Oregon church.

Not one to let grass grow under his feet, Cornforth enrolled in the Master of Divinity program at Andrews University, where his leadership skills continued to shine as student body president of the seminary. After serving as a pastor and then a conference youth leader in Idaho from 1990 to 1993, he was called to Maryland to serve at the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists as assistant director of Adventist Resource Management Services. He became involved in a plethora of committee meetings that were important, yet not personally and professionally fulfilling.

“I took a good, long hard look at myself and my life and decided to make a tough choice to leave the ministry.” Cornforth says that he “felt early in life” the need to fulfill a calling to the ministry and move up into church leadership. He compares himself to a race horse who was “trotting rather than galloping.”

“I know that I had a lot of opportunities and was ambitious, but no matter what they say, wisdom does come with experience and I recognized that my gift mix was more entrepreneurial,” he says.
At age 34, with $4,700 of his General Conference retirement money, Cornforth formed Community Development, Inc. (CDI). CDI is a private nonprofit organization specializing in real estate and community development and based in Caldwell, Idaho. CDI is touted as active in the development of new single-family subdivisions and multifamily housing for seniors and families. These projects are generally accomplished via a network of subsidiary nonprofit organizations. The emphasis, Cornforth explains, is to serve people with limited incomes and resources and instill in them hope for the future.

Cornforth also has several for-profit endeavors, including Village Commons, which develops student housing on or near college or university campuses.

For those who think that going into business is a dream job, Cornforth points out that it can be cut-throat, particularly because you are making decisions constantly, involving lots of people from different professional backgrounds and interests.

“I am here to tell you that it is not for everyone,” Cornforth maintains, “but you try to conduct yourself so that you can go to sleep at night satisfied that you did the best job you could.”

The first year, 1994, CDI earned $27,000. This year, the company’s total project activity will total $100 million.

“This is so exciting because it just popped! I honestly feel that the Lord has blessed me and I, in turn, feel it is important to give back,” he says. Cornforth founded Service Station, an organization to help people in need by raising funds for projects. “Currently, we are building orphanages in Russia and in Peru. We are working on raising funds to prepare a new orphanage for 90 children in Sobinka, Russia. We also have a sponsorship program to provide the children at Barscoy Orphanage, in Vladimir, Russia, with basic necessities for everyday needs,” he says. Cornforth hired Paul K. Opp, a 1978 WWC graduate, to oversee these projects full-time. Income from the development activities covers the operating costs of Service Station.
Cornforth emphasizes that he has the utmost respect for his friends who are in the ministry. While he admits that he misses preaching sermons, he does appreciate getting his weekends back. “I have time to spend with my two children, 15 and 13; and my stepchildren, 22, 18 and 14; my wife, Charlene; and my dog on Friday nights and all day on Sabbaths.” He says he is fulfilled because he has the best of both worlds: the financial means and the ability to make his mission of helping people a reality.

 

Unexpected Circumstance
What does a broken tibia have in common with facial skin care?

Yvonne E. Stratton will tell you. Though anatomically far apart, they have a significant relationship as far as her career is concerned.

In 1972, when Stratton graduated from WWC, she had a goal: to become a doctor. She headed straight for Loma Linda University where she graduated and then continued her residency at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, Mass. From there, Stratton joined an ob/gyn office in Long Beach, Calif., where she practiced for 16 years.

Wanting to raise her children, Harley and Lydia Green, near quality schools and in an environment where she didn’t have to spend an hour a day commuting, she relocated her family to Walla Walla. At that time, in 1993, Stratton joined Blue Mountain Medical Group where she practiced medicine and was also the medical director for managed care for the physicians group.

Life was going well until 1999 when Stratton fractured the upper two inches of her tibia during a skiing accident. As a result, she was unable to stand for long periods of time. In fact, she was in a wheelchair for five months and on crutches for the following two years. “I looked ahead and decided that I could not do the obstetrical grind anymore,” Stratton says.

It was time to consider giving up her practice, she says, and heading back to the “drawing board.” In 2001, Stratton began a master’s degree program in medical management at the University of Southern California and completed it in 2002.

“It was a difficult time for me not working for four years,” Stratton admits. “My career change, while gradual, not abrupt, brought along its own issues. There was a loss of ‘professionhood’ that was very real.”

In spite of that, Stratton was unwilling to leave the Walla Walla valley because her children were happy and involved at their schools.
After taking some courses in aesthetic skin care, Stratton decided to meld her medical expertise with her medical management degree, and she opened her business, Walla Walla Skin Care, in April 2004.

Stratton describes the business as a medical spa specializing in enhancing the look of the skin. She also does permanent laser hair reduction using LightSheer(tm), a diode laser; acne treatment using ClearLight(tm); and skin rejuvenation, which uses the SkinScape(tm) microdermabrasian machine. The business also offers total skin care products. “My new business fits a niche that no one in this region, so far, has filled,” cites Stratton. “I am thoroughly enjoying the one-on-one contact again.”

Stratton’s advice regarding mid-life career changes: “If you want to make a career change, do some dabbling in that career and research it as much as you can beforehand. Be prepared to work hard and conduct your own feasibility study with accurate data. It takes time to convince investors. Be prepared to spend a significant amount of time while still keeping your other job going.”

 

Full Circle
One of the first things you notice when you meet Paul Stirling is that he is enthusiastic about life: his full-circle career change and God’s leading are integral parts of his story.

As a WWC transfer student in 1966-67, Stirling took a few engineering classes, decided engineering wasn’t for him, and transferred to Pacific Union College. There he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in industrial arts in 1968 and a master’s degree in industrial education in 1969.

Following graduation, Stirling was hired at Redwood Academy in Santa Rosa, Calif. where he taught math, Bible, shop, and band. “You name it, I taught it,” he grins. But after seven years, Stirling admits that he had reached a point where he was simply burned out. Fortunately, the opportunity to teach as a missionary in Ethiopia, East Africa, came and he grabbed it.

“It was a most interesting time, and we thoroughly enjoyed all six years at Ethiopian Adventist Academy in Shashamane,” Stirling recalls. But he admits that he was in a bit of a time warp upon his return to the United States in 1982. The General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists offered a one-year paid budget to any Adventist school that would hire him or else they would pay him one year’s salary to return to school if he couldn’t find work. But there were not any jobs offered by any Adventist schools in North America. Most industrial arts positions, he laments, were now computer science positions.

Stirling knew he was at a pivotal point. Should he return to school? He prayed and made the decision to go back to Walla Walla College at the age of 37. “I thought to myself, I can’t lose with this.”

Initially, Stirling didn’t think he was prepared enough academically to major in engineering, so he majored in biomedical electronics.

However, after taking a calculus class, Stirling discovered that he did well.

“I was amazed that I might have a chance at majoring in engineering,” he says.

After consulting with Professor Charles Bell, who told him that it might take him a few years but he should go for it, Stirling changed his degree to engineering.

“For me, getting a ‘B’ or a ‘C’ in class was wonderful. If I got an ‘A’ in a class, I was overjoyed. Since my fellow engineering students were younger and sharper, I had a strategy of teaming up with them to study. And, too, I learned that I could call my professors at any time and get help,” Stirling explains.

But perhaps the most support he received was at home, Stirling recalls: “My wife, Judy, and our sons, Brynn and Joel, were so considerate of my need to get through school. It was a real drudge for three years,” he says, “until I finally graduated in 1985.”

Stirling was immediately hired as a mechanical engineer at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. For the past 19 years, with the exception of a nine-month period, Paul has worked on waterfront support and solved problems with submarines and aircraft carriers in regard to seawater cooling systems. He has never doubted for one minute the value of his education.

“When I compared my education to those of my young engineering colleagues at the shipyard, I discovered I had learned just as much as everyone else and even more,” Stirling affirms. “And the tough months and years in the engineering program conditioned me to prepare for and pass the Washington State Professional Engineer’s License Examination.”

Another thing Sterling discovered was this: While he was a student at WWC he took a class in steam plant design and thought to himself, “Where will I ever use this class? Who uses steam anymore?” As it turned out, that class, taught by the late “Prof Cross,” became essential to what he does today in the shipyard; steam is produced by a nuclear reactor.

Working in a job he thoroughly enjoys, Stirling’s school days have not been completely behind him. For a few years he team-taught a class for engineers planning to earn engineering certification from the State.

“Later on, the department was going heavily into computer systems where everyone would have paperless offices. They asked me to set up a class and teach all of the engineers and planning employees (300 to 400) on how new software was going to work.” He says the experience was rewarding, but after a year he decided he needed a breather.

In 1996, he was assigned by the shipyard as a short-term assistant to the Naval Sea Systems Command in Washington, D.C. “I loved my time there because they put me up in a condo in Alexandria, Va., and provided me with transportation to my office in Crystal City. During the summer, Judy flew out to spend three months with me and we’d tour the museums and attend concerts on the weekends and evenings. It was a fabulous experience.”

“I do see God’s hand in my life. Looking back at my life, I can’t think of one thing that I learned along the way, in other jobs, that I don’t use today,” he says gratefully.

For example, in Ethiopia Stirling had to maintain the pumps, the farming equipment and also pull pipes out of the wells. This, plus his teaching experience, has been “excellent training ground for the work I am doing now,” Stirling confirms. Stirling says that he knows how the production people at the shipyard have to do their work because of his experience in machining and welding.

Yes, there is a life outside of work for Paul Stirling. Because Stirling is a Naval Shipyard employee, he cannot take his work home with him for security reasons. As a result, when he gets home, he says with delight, it is “pure hobby,” which includes spending time with his wife, gardening, and playing the bassoon with the Bremerton Symphony. He modestly says that he is “not real good right now. But I’m learning and catching up and one of these days I will make a pretty good contribution to the symphony, I think.” No doubt Stirling will do just that. W

 

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Writer Debbie Rood has had her own interesting career journey. In 2000, inspired by the social work professors she interviewed for a Westwind feature story, Rood enrolled in the master of social work program. She now works as a crisis intervention specialist, precommitment investigator and therapist for Umatilla County Mental Health in Pendleton, Ore.

Rood was originally a writer, getting her start at Southern Missionary College (now Southern Adventist University), where she graduated in 1980 as a journalism major. Rood has worked at Insight magazine and at the Review and Herald Publishing Association. She has also worked as a writer for the health care publisher Coffey Communications, Inc. She was a stay-at-home mom when she decided to return to school for her master’s degree. Rood and her husband, Warren, live in Walla Walla with their children, Jonathan, Jason, and Jeremy.

 

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