HippoPress -- The Hippo -- Guide to Manchester and Nashua NH

Don’t let the accent fool you; Dr. Gabrielle Grigore was born in America in 1991. Literally, of course, she was born in Romania, but to her, she was not truly alive until she escaped communist Romania and set foot on American soil as a refugee.

A trained neurosurgeon, Grigore wasted no time fulfilling her version of the American Dream. In less than a year she learned English and become a licensed massage therapist. In less than two years she founded, with partner Douglas DuVerger, the North Eastern Institute of Whole Health, where she serves as director. She became a United States citizen in 1998.

Where did your journey to the United States begin?

My journey to the United States began probably before I was born. I wanted so much to come here. I don’t know why I had this dream.

However, I was born in Romania of Greek and Romanian parents. I became a neurosurgeon and graduated from University of Medicine in Romania. I worked as a neurosurgeon for quite a few years until I had a devastating accident on my right hand. I thought I would be handicapped for life, but I hoped to heal my hand, with the hope I would go back to medicine. Meanwhile, I wanted to leave the country, to leave Romania.

Why?

I wanted to leave because of the heavy communism. The tyrant, [former communist dictator Nicolae] Ceaucescu was taking over people’s minds and people’s souls. I felt there is no room for progress, it is done, so I tried running away.

Before that, though, I had started a study in Japan of eastern traditional medicine when I was professor at the University of Tokyo. I was there for five years. This was before my escape, after my accident.

After five years I came back to [Romania] and I couldn’t find my place. I did not have anything left for me to go back to medicine and wanted to take advantage of this situation to leave the country. I am a mother at this time of twin girls, Lelia and Francesca, and they were little, probably about 7, maybe 8 — I absolutely buried all this information. I talked to my mother, Stelliana, she said “Try your luck and go. I’ll take care of your children.” So I went with a friend and it took us about two weeks on foot to try to get to the border of Yugoslavia, from which we intended to go Thessaloniki in Greece. I had one bag with me and one jug of water, that was it.

We’d been successful in going from train to train, although there were patrols everywhere. Anyway, we would stop at night and hide in the bushes and then wait for the daytime to start moving forward. However, you should have done it otherwise: you should try to get more distance at night, but there is not [a] map that will guide you through the bushes. We didn’t want to get lost, that’s why we were forced to go during the day.

And we almost made it. We were real close to the Greek border when something triggered some dogs, patrol border dogs. I started running away and I got caught. I don’t know any about him [her friend]. Two soldiers from the Yugoslavia border brought me to the main officer.

I begged ... it was just, I guess, luck. He said “You look desperate, but I have to do my duty and you got caught. However, I think you realize you have made a mistake. One thing I can do for you — I cannot let you go over the border to Greece but I will not report you. I will let you go back on foot the way you came and pretend you never arrived here.” So I came back to where I left two weeks, three weeks later ... but I did not give up my dream.

When was this?

It was December then, December of ‘89, when a big revolution was coming to take Ceaucescu down. Finally he got shot and everything. But during the friction of revolution I said, this is it, this is my time to ask, legally, to go. So I acted very, very fast in that respect.

Who did you ask?

It was chaos in Romania and at every embassy, so I said I would like to go to Greece because my mom is Greek. My dream and my plan to get to America was through Greece. I could have asked for a passport to the United States at that time but I didn’t, because I knew zillions and zillions of people who would want to go to America, so I would go to Greece. I couldn’t make [it] there on foot, so I would make it there by airplane. And so I did.

I was offered citizenship in Greece, but I said no. I wanted to stay as refugee because I knew if I accepted Greek citizenship I would never be able to come to the United States.

I was in Greece about a year and a half. I went to the American embassy and sat in line and when my turn came I said, “This is it. My future depends on this man in front of me,” who was the consul. I told him I had been through hell to get here in front of you. I am not going back to Romania. He asked me what I would do if I got to America and thought, my god, if I don’t give this man the perfect answer, that’s it – once they shut the door on you, there’s no coming back ... I told him I would do anything, I would crawl so I could fly. I came back two days later and he had my visa. I thought I was going to faint.

So of all the places in the U.S., how’d you get to Manchester?

I came in as a refugee and was given an apartment right on Lowell Street. It smelled funny — it was a place where druggies were living, but I didn’t know it at the time — but I was happy, I had my own apartment.

But didn’t have a car, I didn’t have a friend, not one friend, I didn’t know the language, I had no money. But someone above walked me right to the library, which is just where I wanted to go. There I started learning the culture and the place.

How did you get by?

I wanted to give my kids, who were still in Romania, a future. I said I was going to find a job, but [with my hand hurt] I wasn’t good at anything. I decided I need to work with my brain. I took all my diplomas to the Department of Health and Human Services. They said it would take six years for me to be a doctor here, but I had no time — I had to feed my children. So they saw I was Shiatsu master and said maybe you can take an exam and become a licensed massage therapist.

This happened in ‘92, within six months. I passed the exam and got a license in massage therapy. I wanted to get off welfare and start my own business. I found a room to rent at 114 Bay St. I was able to get a small business loan to pay my rent and buy a massage table and a lamp and radio. Then I opened my business there and it was heaven for me. I was the biggest entrepreneur in my mind and in my heart.

Meanwhile, I was working to get my girls here. They were denied at the embassy in Bucharest, two, three, four, five times. Then I went to Sen. Bob Smith and told him my story. After that my girls and my mother and father were invited by the American embassy in Bucharest to get visas. All I had to do was ask Bob Smith. They arrived here a year and a half later.

While I was trying to get my children here, I realized my office was too small. So I took my massage table in front of the YMCA and was teaching my Grigorian method ... somebody saw me there and invited me to be a speaker at a conference about my technique. Hundreds of people were there. Right then and there I said, if I can speak here I can speak anywhere. I thought, why have a small office, when I can have a school ...three months later I found this place [22 Bridge Street].

You did this all by yourself?

In my office I met Douglas DuVerger. He helped me tremendously. He was my English master. At that time he was a manager for a big firm. I told him I was opening a school of massage therapy and asked him if he wanted to join.

I had no money, only knowledge. So I put investors together. That is how North Eastern Institute of Whole Health was started.

At this point Doug left his company and we both worked like dogs, 15, 16 hours per day doing everything. Doug was the best support I have ever had because he was honest, a hard worker, he was prompt, he was decent.

We found 17 students that first year. I think 10 or 12 graduated a year later. That was the biggest event in my life. This all happened in less than two years from when I first came here. We now have 15 instructors and 300 students.