Jerry Andrews defines a life of passion and purpose

RICHMOND COUNTY — Richmond County resident Jerry Andrews is a father, teacher and photographer. These words not only describe him but also define his life’s work and passions.

Andrews’ journey is one where his love for history and photography intersected in meaningful ways.

“I had just gotten out of the military with a very severe injury; I broke my right arm and had to have pins and screws put in it and it forced me to sit back and think about where I wanted to be in life. I didn’t want to be working at textile mills, so I went out to RCC and took a vocational class in architectural drawing and that was a one year program. While I was there, I met Dr. Gene Burrell, who was was over the history department at the time — he also later became the dean of development.”

After spending about a decade in architectural drafting, Andrews knew teaching was his true calling.

“I always had it in my soul that I wanted to be a teacher,” he said, though he initially considered physical education due to his love of sports.

Between 1996 and 1997, Andrews returned to Richmond Community College to earn his associate degree in arts. He frequently attended Dr. Burrell’s classes and credits him for steering him toward history.

“By then, he had sort of taken me under his wing and was trying to encourage me to become a history teacher. Over Christmas break, he encouraged the class to pick up a book called Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose — a story about Lewis and Clark. I started that book and couldn’t put it down, and so Lewis and Clark — that book convinced me to become a history teacher.”

After earning his degree, Andrews applied to UNC Chapel Hill, not believing he’d be accepted, but he was. He attended for a year before transferring to Appalachian State University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate.

As a teacher, Andrews combined his love for photography with his passion for history.

“As I begin to travel and visit some of these historical sites, taking photos of those once I became a teacher, I could bring that stuff back to students who may never go to Washington, who may never go to Montana, who may never go to Pearl Harbor. To all of those places I’ve been, I can bring those things back to my students and share them that these aren’t just places in a book, that they’re real places with real bullet holes in them. If you go to Pearl Harbor, where the barracks were, they have restored the building, but they’ve left the bullet holes in the stairwell.

“So it’s very real even to this day,” Andrews said. “If you go out to the U.S.S. Arizona, it’s still leaking oil from 1941.”

Andrews also attended summer seminars with the National Endowment for the Humanities, studying figures like Thomas Jefferson. One of his most memorable trips took him to Montana.

“I’ve told everybody, while I enjoy Pearl Harbor, Montana spoke to me. If you asked me my favorite topic, I would tell you ‘it’s World War II,’ but on a personal level, it’s been Lewis and Clark because I relate to that story,” he said. “Spiritually, Meriwether Lewis is a part of my family. For so much of my life, especially in my early teaching career, I was obsessed with everything that had been written, everything that had come out.”

Andrews takes great pride in being the first college graduate in his family, a milestone that paved the way for his children’s success.

“I’m the first generation college grad, and I’m very proud of that, especially in how it’s affected my children; they are much more refined than I am. They know how to use a fork,” he said.

He’s extremely proud of his daughter who obtained a Ph.D. in pharmacy from Campbell University and of his son who completed his undergraduate degree at UNC Chapel Hill. After graduating in 2016, he has been in the Peace Corps, where he has been in Macedonia for three years, taught in China, and participated in archaeological digs in Israel. Last summer, he was at an archaeological dig in Italy, and now he’s pursuing his master’s at Yale University.

“I’m so proud of them and that they have taken a little bit of education I’ve infected them with to the next level,” he said.

Andrews’ passion for photography began in eighth grade, thanks to a family friend named David Shepard.

“I love cars. I love hot rods and drag racing,” he said. “He [Shepard] was a hot rodder and had a hot rod, so he showed me his car and of course, I fell in love with his car. I wasn’t able to buy a hot rod car, but he started showing me his camera collections, photography gear and some of the pictures he had taken, places he had been, so that’s how I got started with photography.”

Andrews said he believes Shepard was trying to guide him in the right direction, eventually giving him a “ginormous three ring binder correspondence course” that provided all of the photography basics he needed.

“I didn’t think I was going to read it, but then page one eventually led me to page two, then page 102,” he said.

Andrews became a pro behind the lens, shooting film until 2014 when he finally purchased a digital camera.

“I’ve tried to apply those things to my history, bring pictures back,” Andrews said. “If I go somewhere, I get to bring those things back to my students and share that with them. I don’t want to hoard those experiences, it’s the teacher in me — I want to share them with other people.”

One of Andrews’ most memorable teaching moments came when he hosted a panel discussion with his students, based on the book series Band of Brothers, which involved the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis on its way to the Pacific Islands.

“They’ve all come back and said, ‘you taught me how to work through a situation without having to be spooned.’”

As for his legacy, Andrews said he hopes he will have a positive influence on future generations.

“I have some positive influence; whether it’s the arts or education or any of those things to encourage young people to get involved in your community,” he said. “To pick up that piece of trash — don’t throw out that Mountain Dew bottle out the window. You know, to look for ways to improve on what’s already taken place; to have it step up and grow and be even better.”