Veteran nurse Sue Gregory is no stranger to working on Christmas — a role she’s volunteered for many times in her nearly 46 years at Parkridge Medical Center.
Gregory regularly works Christmas Eve and Christmas Day so that a nurse with young children is able to stay home and play Santa Claus, she said.
“Because they’re young only once, and that’s a thing that cannot be taken away from them — once they see them open their presents,” Gregory said.
But this year for Gregory is bittersweet, as Monday marks her last scheduled shift before retirement.
“When I came in today, I’m teary eyed,” she said during work Thursday. “Then I get over it for a while. I think of the good times and tell about how things used to be.”