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By DENISE A. RAYMO
BURKE — Mary Ann Larkin lifts the hem of her sweater, pulls one of two cell phones off her waistband and opens it.
It's the third time her work phone has gone off in 10 minutes, and it follows two calls she received through a small pager hanging from her corduroy pants.
"I can tell it's going to be one of those days," she said with a laugh before taking the call.
She is a registered nurse with Adirondack ARC and is constantly in touch with the staff to answer client-care questions or clarify instructions.
The Burke woman finishes the call, snaps the phone closed and apologizes before continuing to describe how she came to this new-found career, with all its hand-held gadgets.
LAYOFF AT BOMBARDIER
"I was downsized from Bombardier after six years," Larkin said.
Her job was in production, assembling trains, at first, then moving over to small aircraft before she was laid off in 2006.
"I got called back after two months, but I knew it was only going to be temporary. I decided to take the permanent layoff, go back to school and start looking for a career."
EARLY IDEA
Larkin grew up downstate and went in to the foster-care system in the Poughkeepsie area. Her foster-care family encouraged her to go into nursing, but she didn't think the field was right for her.
"I get very easily attached, and I didn't want that to happen. I was in the Junior Volunteer ambulance squad, but that was different. You just pick them up and drop them off, so there's no room to get attached."
She studied business and secretarial courses in high school because she "wanted to be the big boss someday," graduated in 1984 and received a full scholarship to Plattsburgh State.
OPPORTUNITY LOST
But some life choices steered her to a different path, and Larkin ended up losing the scholarship and studying a semester at Clinton Community College instead before joining the U.S. Marine Corps.
About 7½ weeks into basic training, she realized she wasn't one of "the few" who would be making the Marines a career, and the 20-year-old came back to the Plattsburgh area.
She had a daughter, Kayla Larkin, a year later, in January 1987, and a son, Jon Altvater, in June 1988.
After her marriage disintegrated a few months later, the 23-year-old single mom accepted public assistance and other benefits while working a variety of part-time jobs.
LOW-PAY JOBS
She remarried and continued in a series of low-paying jobs including a short while with the ARC in Essex County.
"I really loved that job, and I had become very attached to the people. I was with the direct-support staff, and it was very hard when I had to leave."
The relationship with her second husband collapsed after 12 years.
"During that time, I said, 'There's got to be something better out there (for work).' Bombardier had opened by then, and I applied.
"They said I didn't have the training they needed, but there was a program at Clinton County at CV-TEC to get training for the industrial jobs that were coming to Plattsburgh, and I got into that program."
JOB SATISFACTION
Larkin worked at Bombardier for six years, and although she sustained work-related elbow, knee and neck problems, she got "a tremendous sense of satisfaction, seeing the finished product rolling down the tracks."
But then the layoff came.
"It was just after Thanksgiving and before Christmas. I was devastated and wondered how I was going to afford Christmas and pay for fuel.
"And I had just bought a new car and wondered how could I afford to make the payments?
"I had worked six years at Bombardier and thought I was done having to go job hunting all the time, so I was down."
DIDN'T WANT WELFARE
Larkin said that for a couple of weeks, she couldn't find any direction in life.
"I had two kids in school, and they would be graduating and wanted to go to college. What was I going to do?"
Her medical limitations weighed on her as she thought about her experience at Bombardier, "and I knew the chances of getting other work like that, with the wear and tear on my body, were slim to none. So I said, 'I'm 39 years old. I've got to do something for a career. I'm not getting any younger.'"
That's when she remembered the advice from her foster family about a nursing career.
"As soon as I made the decision I was going to go back to school and started looking into North Country (Community College), I could see a light at the end of the tunnel.
"I got laid off in November and went back to school in January. I guess I could have felt sorry for myself and lived off the system, but I had changed a lot when I was at Bombardier, and I didn't want to slide back again."
NURSING EDUCATION
She sought out OneWorkSource, which helped with expenses for books and transportation to NCCC and career counseling to retain and extend her unemployment benefits while she studied.
She earned her credentials as a licensed-practical nurse and graduated a year later as a registered nurse in May 2009.
Larkin had continued working part-time while in college and waited now to hear from one of the regional hospitals and health-care institutions to which she had applied after she passed her board exams.
But no offers came because she did not have enough experience.
LIFE TURNS AROUND
A friend mentioned an upcoming vacancy at Adirondack ARC.
"I interviewed for it, and when I didn't hear anything, I thought, 'Oh, well. Something else will come along.' But I really, really, really wanted the job," Larkin said.
"Two weeks went by, they called me for a second interview, and I started the week before Christmas."
And while it's true she is bogged down by cell phones and pagers and her days can get hectic, she couldn't be happier.
Larkin is in a committed relationship and now has a 6-month-old grandson, Tristan Gabriel, who lights up her heart. Her daughter, inspired by Larkin, may pursue a career as a nurse's aide.
TWISTS
Larkin still has ambitions.
She's looking at getting her bachelor's degree, and maybe eventually her master's, so she can work toward the administrative side of the nursing field and be "the big boss" she always wanted to be.
"My life took a lot of twists and turns, but I'm almost 44, I have a career I know is not going away and a paycheck that will help my children and grandchild if they need it.
"I ended up right where I should have been 23 years ago."
E-mail Denise A. Raymo at: draymo@pressrepublican.com
