b'KATHY COREYShe was already dating her future husband Jeff at the time, and she recalls that it was love at first sight.We made a strong connection on our first date night, Kathy says. We vowed that we would get married first and have a family together and then own a business together.After two years as a charge nurse, Kathy was offered a position as a director of nursing in an intermediate care facility, a challenging role that she loved.By then, Kathy and Jeff had gotten married and had a daughter, Emily, followed by another daughter, Erin, 19 months later. They later also had a son, Joseph. Now a mother of young children, Kathy decided to make a change.It was time for me, I thought, to pull back from my career. I decided to stay home for a bit, which didnt work so well for me, she recalls. So, then Jeff invited me to come work in his familys business because he felt that it would get me out of the house.Jeffs father, Robert Corey, had opened Roberts Jewelry in Madawaska, Maine, in 1955.As a result of it, I fell in love with the jewelry industry and then I started reminding [Jeff] of our promise we made to each other on the night we met, that we were going to open our first jewel-ry store, Kathy says.It took a lot of convincing on her part, she says, but they found the perfect spot in Waterville, Maine, located about five hours south of where both Maine natives were born. In 1984, the pair opened Jeffreys Fine Jewelers at the site of a former Days Jewelers store.Captain Harry Davidson opened the first Days Jewelers store in Portland, Maine, in 1914. His sons Sidney, David, and Herman soon joined the business.Over time, the family-owned jewelry store chain grew to 22 locations in Maine, New Hamp-shire, and Vermont.Jeffs father, the late Robert Corey, worked there as a stock boy when he was 11 years old.In the 1970s, the chain began to downsize. With no succession plan in place, the company sold one store after another until there was only one location left, in Westbrook, Maine.Jeffreys Fine Jewelers was extremely suc- Days Jewelers cessful thanks to the emphasis they put on theoperates six stores in Kathy Coreys customer experience, Kathy recalls, but therehome state of Maine, was something appealing about that final Daysincluding this one in Waterville, as well as Jewelers store. three stores in New Days original owners worked very hard toHampshire.build this hugely successful and very large chain NATIONAL JEWELER 23'