Lynn’s Casey Migliacci will have fond memories of his friend Jack Murray, in more ways than one.
Murray was a client who became a friend, and then an inspiration for Migliacci to go back to school to get his nursing degree.
Migliacci is a hospice aide for Care Dimensions, a Danvers facility that specializes in hospice and palliative care for adults and children in Massachusetts. One of his clients was Murray, of North Beverly, who died recently at the age of 93.
Migliacci has been a certified nursing assistant since 2010 and joined Care Dimensions in 2017 to care for patients in skilled nursing facilities, group homes, assisted living communities and private homes.
“I love working at Care Dimensions; I love connecting with people,” Migliacci said. “I’m caring for people at a very important and sometimes scary time in their lives. I try to make them as comfortable as I can and give them more happiness.”
When he met Murray, a former educator, the two seemed to click right away, he said.
“I saw Jack sitting in one of his wing chairs next to the fireplace with a big smile on his face,” Casey says. “A natural guy, he was really in good spirits and he seemed glad to see me.”
As time went on, a true friendship developed between the two.
“He was one of the most, if not the most, influential person I’ve ever met,” Migliacci said. “Jack wrote poetry and got me interested in poetry. Some mornings, he’d ask, ‘Do you have time for a poem?’ and it was the funniest thing to see this 93-year-old whip out his iPhone, pull up some poems and read them to me. I never liked poetry until I met him.”
Even now, Migliacci keeps a bound book of Murray’s suggested authors and artists to follow and places to go. He and his sister went to many of the places proposed by Murray.
It wasn’t a one-way friendship. Migliacci’s presence made an impact on Murray too.
“Casey would come back and let Jack know about the time he and his sister had on their adventure,” said Barbara Maier, Murray’s former student, co-worker and friend for 53 years. “He brought the world back to Jack. Casey was a gift every time he walked through the door.”
In time, Murray began to ask Migliacci about his future and about going back to school.
“Jack thought I would enjoy college, meeting new people and learning new things,” Migliacci said. “He was the first person who thought I could do it. Without his encouragement, I don’t think I would have had the confidence to try it.”
Migliacci started at North Shore Community College in September and plans to pursue his nursing degree at Endicott College. In a way, Murray, a former professor at Endicott, is going with him.
“I have to finish school now because I hear Jack in my head,” Casey says. “Now I’m always thinking, I have to do homework, I have to finish. And I’m doing better than I thought.”
Care Dimensions is on the journey with Migliacci, too. He’s eligible for tuition reimbursement and scholarships and, once he graduates, he can use a student loan refinancing and paydown benefit that provides up to $2,000 a year to help employees pay off their student debt faster.
The day before Murray died, he opened his eyes wide when he heard Migliacci’s voice and said to him, “It’s so good to see you, Casey. How is school going?”
“It means so much to me that Jack was thinking about me and my future right until the end,” Migliacci says.