A blossoming mother-daughter relationship

Kori Newbury and her four daughters shared a special bond, but for one of her daughters, mom is also a co-worker of hers.

McKynli Newbury gets to see her mom whenever she wants because they work together on the same campus at Adair County Health System. Kori Newbury, a registered nurse, is program director for Senior Life Solutions, a mental health program located next door to the hospital that is specifically-designed for older adults, while McKynli Newbury is a human resources assistant at the hospital, focusing a lot on employee recruitment and retention.

“I’m back and forth between both buildings a lot, and every time I’m over here I always like to pop in and see her,” Kori said. “For me, I like seeing McKynli throughout the day. When she shows up in my office, I just really like that too. She’ll come over and say hi and bought me flowers for National Nurse’s Week.”

The relationship goes the other way as well.

“We just have a great relationship outside of work,” McKynli said. “Being able to see each other at work — even if I’m having a bad day, having that access where I can go and see my mom is such a nice opportunity. I also think it’s nice to see my mom in a different light [while at work]. I get to see attributes my mom has in the workplace and realize I do that.”

Kori and Daryl Newbury have five children in all. Daughter Payge and her husband, Jordan, have two children; son Kolton and wife Shae have one daughter and another child on the way; McKynli and her fiance Corbin Bond are next, with McKynna and her boyfriend Bryce Fitzgerald. The youngest is Abigayle, a esthetician in Greenfield.

“I love that all five of my kids are pretty much here locally,” Kori said. “McKynna is the only one who lives in Creston, but we still see her several times a week. I would be really sad if I didn’t see my kids all the time.”

Kori grew up in Greenfield and said she would never be a nurse. Her mother, Beth Barlow, was a nurse who worked nights for many years. While they shared their own bond that Kori Newbury remembers fondly, there were also downsides to the schedule that she didn’t want her own children to have to experience.

“On her days off, we did things with her. She would take us out when she was doing her errands,” Kori said. “At random times, we’d go out shopping and get little things. Those are things I remember. She was trying to get stuff done because she slept a lot during the day, but those were also fun times. She also loved flowers, so I remember in the summertime having a lot of that stuff and my sister and I would help her.”

Growing love and plants in their home are two things Kori and Daryl have carried on to the next generation. Daryl maintains a large garden while Kori loves flowers. The family cans a lot of their vegetables and they make their own spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce.

McKynli said her mom is especially good at making sure all five of the kids kids feel special in a unique way. For her, it was the countless hours they spent sitting in the gym watching her play sports. Early on, she would look up and wave at them several times during games, even though she knew they were still there celebrating her every basket or volleyball kill.

Kori worked in the corporate insurance world, but when the tornado struck Greenfield last year, she knew she needed to make a change of focus professionally. McKynli had worked for Adair County Health System since 2021.

Though Kori is not specifically employed by ACHS, but a separate entity called Psychiatric Medical Care, it is contracted with ACHS and located on their campus. She started in this position last November.

Kori counted the cost of working on the same campus as her daughter and is glad she made the switch.

“I felt like I wasn’t able to offer what I could to help,” Kori Newbury said of the tornado. “A lot of that really weighed on me afterwards. I realized how unhappy I was because [my previous job] didn’t really align with my values or who I am as a person. I love everybody here.”

The Newburys celebrated Mother’s Day weekend with a cookout and flowers.

“It was perfect. I spent it with my babies and their babies,” Kori Newbury said.