After a poor college college experience following high school she never thought she was smart enough to get a college degree. Her father would always say, "Why do you need a degree? You're just going to get married anyway."
While we were at Panama City I finally talked her into taking a course at the Junior College. From that moment she fell in love with learning and never stopped.
After we moved back to Dallas, she traveled two hours each day, first to North Texas University, where she got her Batchelor’s in Social Work, and then to the University of Texas at Arlington where she earned her Master’s. After the required apprenticeship she was finally awarded her certification as a Clinical Social Worker...her crowning achievement. Now she was able to do the counseling she had longed to do for years.
Actually, the certification just gave her the legal right. As long as we were married she had been doing pastoral care for many many people. Her life dream was to be able to provide quality mental health care to anyone, regardless of their social standing or financial ability. She had many clients through the years who paid her $5 a week, or even month. They were all equal in her eyes.
One story, out of many, especially comes to mind. I walked into the Counseling Center at Resurrection one day just in time to see this man mountain of a biker duck under her room's door header and start for the front door. Classic biker! Tattoos from head to toe, leathers and chains! Needless to say I gave him as much room as was left in the hall. Turns out he was in the middle of a divorce and had come to her for counseling. After the divorce he brought every new girlfriend to have a session with Andrea before the relationship went any further. One of her proudest moments was receiving a wedding invitation to his biker wedding. The bride was one with whom she had done extensive counseling.
After Andrea’s death, one of her dearest friends sent a book of drawings and sayings titled,
“I have a friend who was, and is, a ‘wounded healer.’
How do I know?
Because of the depth of her compassion”