NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Betty Humphery
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
betty.b.humphery@nasa.gov

News release: 08-016


HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—Growing up in nearby Limestone County in northern Alabama, sisters Vera "Nell" Harris, Gloria Ayers and Lena Andrews spent countless hours chopping cotton in the hot Alabama sun to save money for new bicycles.

With every dollar they tucked away, the three young girls -- along with their youngest sister Dorothy Holloway -- imagined themselves taking off on new adventures. Traveling distances they never thought possible.

Today, all four sisters are coworkers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Ayers reviews internal and external communications materials as part of the center's strategic communications team. Andrews minds the books as an accountant. Harris is a custodian, keeping the center clean and safe. Holloway keeps package shipments and personnel travel running smoothly. And all their labors support travel to faraway destinations even more magical than those they dreamed of as little girls.

"We all do something different, but we contribute in our own way to Marshall's successful missions," Ayers said.

Those missions -- and the range of opportunities at the Marshall Center for prospective employees of all skill sets -- are wide-ranging, indeed. One of NASA's largest field centers, with more than 100 specialized research and development facilities and an annual budget of some $2.6 billion, the Marshall Center employs approximately 7,600 scientists, engineers, technicians and support staff, including some 5,000 contract employees. It's a technology and employment hub of the Tennessee Valley, helping to bring in thousands of private-sector tech companies, tens of thousands of high-paying jobs and enough talented and motivated people to fill them.

Marshall teams manage the space shuttle propulsion systems, develop the next-generation Ares launch vehicles that will take explorers back to the moon, and lead fundamental Earth science and space science research designed to expand our understanding of the universe and improve life on Earth in countless ways.

The sisters’ combined 65 years of service at Marshall began when Andrews -- then a senior at East Limestone High School in Athens, Ala. -- got a job as a student aide at Marshall in 1975. Her knack for numbers led her to major in accounting and business at Calhoun Community College in Huntsville, and she completed her degree in 1984 at Athens State College. She held finance and accounting posts with the U.S. Army Missile Command in Huntsville and Dobbins Air Force Base in Marietta, Ga., before joining Marshall in 2001.

By then, Andrews' positive experience as a student aide at the center already had influenced sisters Ayers and Holloway to apply for spots in Marshall's co-op program. Ayers participated while attending Athens State; Holloway was a co-op while studying at Drake State Technical College in Huntsville.

Ayers graduated from Athens State with an accounting degree in 1988, and accepted a job in Marshall’s Chief Financial Office, where she worked for nearly two decades before turning her attention to strategic communications in 2006. She also earned a master's degree in business administration from the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne in 1991.

Holloway, who received her degree in office administration, joined Marshall's Facilities Office in 1986 as a management support assistant. She served several different Marshall offices in that capacity until 2007, when she elected to take on a new challenge -- as a transportation specialist. Today she clears Marshall's international shipments through U.S. customs and resolves travel issues for center personnel.

The Marshall team also is the driving force behind Harris’ long career at the center. She has provided cleaning services to numerous Marshall facilities over the years, from office cubicles to bustling laboratories and hardware development facilities.

Harris and Holloway, who work in the same building, see each other most often, but all four siblings try to get together often for lunch. They catch up on their combined 11 children, the kids' grades and school events, what's happening in their communities -- sister talk.

But they also talk about their work, and the work of the Marshall Center, and the work now being done to further the nation's mission in space.

"Because we come from a rural area, a lot of people in our communities aren’t fully aware of NASA’s missions and goals," Ayers said. "We are able to take NASA pamphlets, patches and posters home to our kids, and to their classmates and teachers, and to people throughout our community -- materials they might not normally see.

"And we show them our pride in the jobs we do," she added. "We demonstrate that every job, every worker, is integral to keeping the Marshall Center operating efficiently, moving forward to execute NASA's mission. We are in a unique position to excite our kids and their friends about Marshall Center careers. They see that NASA is thriving because of people they know. People just like them. There's nothing more fulfilling than that."

Except, perhaps, the satisfaction four sisters take in knowing they continue the tradition they began as children under the Alabama sun: working hard -- together.

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