Billy Ray Coursey: From nuclear safety to limo driver

In March 1979, Billy Ray Coursey Jr. went nuclear.

A friend of his had told him about the money that could be made in the nascient nuclear industry, but Coursey didn't realize it until his friend called with an offer for a $1,500 a week job.

“I thought about it for two seconds before I quit my job,” he said. “That was good money, hard to pass it up.”

Coursey left his job as assistant manager of a Toyota dealership in Florida and headed to Surry, Va., where he put his muscles and 6-foot plus frame to use as a laborer at the Surry Nuclear Plant. It was only a few months later that Three Mile Island would forever change the nuclear industry. Safety became paramount creating job opportunities.

“They needed people, and it opened a window for me,” he said.

As a radiation protection technician, Coursey traveled across the country overseeing proper dress codes for workers in sensitive radiation areas while reviewing safety protocols with workers at each nuclear installation. Easy going by nature, Coursey said he enjoyed the friendships and interactions he made in the industry over the years.

But it was contract work that kept him on the road and made it difficult to spend time with his wife, Debbie, and her three sons.

Shortly after the two married in 1985, he took a permanent position at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear facility in Calvert County, Md. There the boys grew up and the couple established Eastern Shore roots, which included annual vacations in Rehoboth Beach.

Debbie's family were long-established Rehoboth Beach business owners, starting with her grandparents restaurant, the Plantation, on Rehoboth Avenue, a space now occupied by Gidgets and Gadgets, where Debbie works on Sundays.

Her parents Daniel and Joan Abbott still own the property and the Sea Shell Shop building next to it.

Debbie spent her summers at the beach for as long as she can remember – long enough to remember when there were bathrooms underneath the boardwalk that cost a dime to use, she said.

“I always loved the beach,” she said, although the memory of a near-drowning incident still haunts her.

“I remember waking up and it seemed like a thousand people were around me.”

Convincing Coursey to vacation in Rehoboth wasn't hard; the family returned year after year to the same rental at Girard Place on Olive Avenue for 12 years.

In 1998, with some encouragement from Debbie's father, the couple bought a lot on Sandalwood Drive where they now live.

“I wasn't sure about it, but he kept saying it'll go up,” Coursey said. “He was right. We'd never be able to afford to live down here now.”

As long as the couple has been together, they've lived near water. Boating and fishing keep them busy in their spare time, and years on and in the water translated in to underwater diving careers for two of their now grown sons.

After building their house in 2001, Coursey continued working at the Calvert County nuclear plant, but said he saw the writing on the wall. When his boss offered buy-outs in 2003, he said, he was one of the first to raise his hand.

The couple took some time to travel, both joking that they haven't had a vacation since.

They next tried their hand as restaurant owners, running The Grille in the Rehoboth Mall from 2005 to 2008. That ended in a fizzle.

“We ran it for three years to the day. On the day my lease ran out, I sold it,” Coursey said.

He returned to the nuclear world as a contractor for the next six years, again traveling across the country to various nuclear sites. Debbie accompanied him and it was good company, but it was draining, he said.

“We were living out of nice hotels, but it was still living in hotels,” he said. “By 2014, I had enough.”

He was recently reminded of his nuclear safety days while watching the healthcare scare over Ebola. Although safety guidelines improved after the initial reports of the fatal disease, Coursey said, the nuclear industry's hyper-awareness of safety is something the healthcare industry should copy to prevent any infectious material from reaching the public.

Now a full-time Rehoboth Beach resident, Coursey, 61, said he's content to stay put.

“It's really cool to wake up in your own bed for more than a week,” he said.

In their free time, the active couple can be found on their boat in Rehoboth Bay or riding bicycles along the Breakwater Trail, most times accompanied by their beloved beagle mix, Mia.

Mia even has her own basket on the couples' mopeds, their main mode of transportation when beachbound tourists clog up the roadways.

Coursey spends his time maintaining his in-laws properties and also driving vehicles for the Jolly Trolley. He's determined to upgrade his driver's license, recently earning commercial and hazardous material transportation endorsements.

“My relevance to the workforce these days is concentrated around my license,” he said, but the optimist in him sees it as another opportunity. “I may even drive a school bus soon.”