Her posture is erect, her diction perfect, her self-assurance complete, as befitting a military officer. She adjusts her uniform habitually, tugging down the shirt, keeping it in place, yet she doesn’t seem fidgety, just ready to move at any moment. In an office filled with Army and nursing school mementoes and photographs of her family, patients and friends, she relates her military advancements matter-of-factly, with an unassuming pride that emphasizes teamwork and training.
“I am successful in my military career,” says Col. Gwendolyn Fryer, “because of the strong foundation I obtained at the Medical College of Georgia. When I graduated, I felt prepared to embark on any career I chose. I had a sense of accomplishment and positive reassurance that I could do anything I set my mind to.”
During nearly 26 years in the Army (she retires next May), Col. Fryer has helped get programs developed, facilities accredited, hospitals trained and nurses recruited and nurtured. Her many awards include the Meritorious Service Medal with fifth Oak Leaf Cluster, the Army Commendation Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Global War on Terrorism Ribbon. In 2003, Col. Fryer was inducted into the prestigious Order of Military Medical Merit. Last May, she addressed the U. S. Congress as one of only four Polytrauma Liaison Officers in the country on the impact that role has on the lives of injured active-duty service members receiving care in military and Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers.
In 1971, the Glenn Hills High School graduate planned to study journalism at Mercer University when she heard about a new Summer Enrichment Program at MCG aimed at attracting minorities to the health sciences in general and MCG in particular.
She took that path instead and in her first nursing classes, discovered her passion.
“I love people. I do, in fact, love to help. I like people to stand on their own two feet,” she emphasizes, “but I do like to be a vehicle to help show them how.”
She also discovered her leadership abilities.
“We had at that time a large influx of minority students,” recalls Dr. Joseph Hobbs, then a second-year School of Medicine student and now chair of MCG’s Department of Family Medicine and vice dean for primary care and community affairs in the School of Medicine, who was also part of that initial wave of minorities. “Gwen was even then a very serious and conscientious student who was able to deal with that dynamic social situation extremely well. It was obvious to me that she was a natural leader: friendly, personable, at times no-nonsense, actively involved in campus activities. The insight she had set the stage for the continuing diversity we have on campus today.”
“MCG really was a good place to get a nursing career started, because of the people at the time,” says Col. Fryer, “like Dean Dottie White, who was very forward-thinking. I know now that she was a visionary. She was very inclusive; she broke barriers.”
After earning her MCG degree, Col. Fryer spent seven years as a civilian nurse in hospital settings, moving through a variety of positions with ever-increasing responsibilities. She joined the Army Reserves in 1978, chaired the Georgia Nurses Association Legislative Committee while a member of the national association, and in 1979 went back to MCG for a master’s degree in medical surgical nursing with a teaching specialization, all while raising her “pride and joy”—daughter Alex, now an anthropology and film major at Georgia State University.
Then she got an itch.
“I was looking for an adventure,” she says. Ironically, her active duty military career never took her farther north than Fort Knox in Kentucky, farther west than Fort Sam Houston in Texas, or farther south than the James A. Haley Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Tampa, Fla.
“I toured the South,” she jokes. And always managed to come home to Augusta.
Her third posting at Eisenhower Army Medical Center at Fort Gordon in 2002 enabled her to return something to the university she loves. Currently, she serves as a member of the Advancement Steering Committee for MCG and the School of Nursing, and she has invested in the future by including the institution in her estate plans.
“I am committed to MCG,” says Col. Fryer. “This is where I got my start, where I got more than just an education in nursing. I learned about leadership, life, adventure, research and about being a true professional. The faculty taught me about guts and glory as they challenged me to excel. When I say I am a graduate of the MCG School of Nursing, I know it is received with awe and respect. This school educates, prepares and sends out some of the best and most balanced nurses in the world.
“Since MCG has given to me, I want to always give to MCG.”
- Sharron Walls