A clinical rotation that sparked wedding bells

Lisa Brown wasn’t expecting to meet her future husband when she started her first clinical rotation at Pasadena’s Southmore Hospital.

The 27-year-old San Jacinto College respiratory care student was shadowing Jimmy Brown, a “sweet and cute” respiratory therapist.

Both expected a straightforward mentoring relationship, but like all good love stories, life would surprise them both.

San Jac start

Jimmy and Lisa’s paths began years apart at San Jac.

After too many sweltering summers in the construction industry, Jimmy, a single dad, turned to the College’s respiratory care program in 1989 for a better career.

Seven years later, Lisa followed. A newly single mom of three, she wanted a career that offered stability and meaning. When her 3-year-old daughter was hospitalized with croup, she had watched respiratory therapists at work — skilled, calm, compassionate — and could see herself doing the same.

At San Jac, both found a rigorous program centered on hands-on learning. Instructor Larry Vandiver, known as "MacGyver," pushed students to diagnose problems fast. Was it a ventilator problem or patient issue?

“You don’t have a lot of time to figure that out when you’re dealing with critical patients,” Jimmy said.

The program prepared them well. What it didn’t prepare them for was a surprising turn of events.

Match in the making

When Jimmy and Lisa met during the clinical rotation, they both felt sparks. Although mentoring came first, their relationship would soon deepen.

Just months after the clinical rotation, Lisa showed up at Southmore Hospital to visit her mom, a nurse there, and to look for Jimmy.

“I thought he was cute,” she said. “Everyone was teasing him that I came up there because I liked him.”

They traded numbers, and soon marathon phone conversations turned into dates. In November 1997 — six months after exchanging numbers — they were exchanging vows.

“What attracted me to Jimmy was he was sweet, a nice guy,” Lisa said. “He had primary care in raising his daughter. He was hard-working, and everyone liked him.”

“I also looked better 30 years ago,” Jimmy added, laughing.

With “I do,” the two respiratory therapists blended families, careers, and lives.

Evolving careers

Change was a constant in the years ahead, but so was their commitment to each other.

“It’s helped in a lot of ways being in the same field [as Jimmy],” Lisa said. “We could work our schedules around each other and share the good and the bad of our jobs.”

While Jimmy worked in critical care, intensive care, and emergency settings before shifting to pediatrics, Lisa worked across adult care, pediatrics, and neonatal intensive care.

It’s helped in a lot of ways being in the same field. We could work our schedules around each other and share the good and the bad of our jobs.

Right before COVID, Jimmy was serving as the lead therapist at Bayshore Hospital, a role he’d held for 15 years. The pandemic stretched him to his limits, though, so when transfers were allowed again, he moved to the Woman’s Hospital of Texas, where Lisa worked.

Working with newborns to teens, Jimmy leaned on experience to calm anxious parents.

“Parents are just scared,” he said. “I’m good about communicating with them, letting them know what’s happening.”

Lisa developed deep bonds with neonatal intensive care families, walking alongside them from life-threatening moments all the way to graduation ceremonies when their babies were released from the hospital.

“I would connect on a personal level with family and parents,” she said. “You fall in love with them.”

Now retired from the hospital, she works with senior patients in pulmonary rehabilitation.

Family legacy

Jimmy and Lisa’s shared passion for respiratory therapy influenced their daughter Sarah Reilly to follow in their footsteps.

After graduating from San Jac’s program, Reilly worked with her parents at Texas Woman’s. Today, she also teaches at San Jac as an adjunct.

“It’s been such a privilege to work with them,” she said. “They’ve been a positive influence not only with me but many others as well.” 

Lives shaped by San Jac

Jimmy and Lisa credit the College — and respiratory care — for reshaping their futures.

“I’ve never regretted my decision to do respiratory care,” Lisa said.

She calls meeting Jimmy “divine intervention.” Coming out of a painful divorce, she never expected to find someone so steady.

Early in our marriage, we had some hiccups. Once you get past that, you look at marriage differently. You realize you’re together. Then you realize you want to be together.

“We understand each other and love each other,” she said.

Jimmy agrees.

“Early in our marriage, we had some hiccups,” he said. “Once you get past that, you look at marriage differently. You realize you’re together. Then you realize you want to be together.”

Learn more about San Jac's respiratory care program

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About San Jacinto College

Surrounded by monuments of history, evolving industries, maritime enterprises of today, and the space age of tomorrow, San Jacinto College has served the people of East Harris County, Texas, since 1961. The College is ranked second in the nation among more than 1,100 community colleges, as designated by the Aspen Institute and was named an Achieving the Dream Leader College of Distinction in 2020. As a Hispanic-Serving Institution that spans five campuses, plus an online college, San Jacinto College serves approximately 45,000 credit and non-credit students annually. It offers more than 200 degrees and certificates across eight major areas of study that put students on a path to transfer to four-year institutions or enter the workforce. The College is fiscally sound, holding bond ratings of AA+ by Standard & Poor’s and Aa2 by Moody’s. San Jacinto College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.