Linda Ritchey Diamond

After high school I started out as an English major in college, and after 2 years changed my major to nursing and transferred to a different school and totally different climate---from Brazil to Minnesota to Florida. In 1982 I completed my Bachelor's in Nursing and in 1991 I earned my master's in health care administration from New School University in NY. I retired as a registered nurse in 2008, started my own business. I design and make custom and unique handbags, working from my home sewing studio. After 26 yrs in the medical field in a wide variety of roles, I retired from health care after 8 years, most recently, as an ophthalmic registered nurse in glaucoma and inflammatory conditions. I enjoyed trauma, surgical and cardiac ICU, emergency and OR nursing. I also worked for Blue Cross Blue Shield and United Health Care as Director of Health Services and as Director of Quality and Utilzation for a large independent physician organization. Along the way I married, had my son who is a US Marine and now a college student, divorced, met my husband and inherited 2 more sons whom we raised along with my son, making me the lone female (except for pets) in our home. We enjoy being emply nesters whenever someone leaves and we have an interval of no kids in residence. Our kids at home include 2 chocolate labrador retrievers, Parker and Maxx, and Jake the Cat who seems to have eternal life at 14 and going strong.

My years in Brazil impacted my life tremendously. Those of us who attended Graded have a unique bond that is difficult for some to understand. What a small world we live in is emphasized by the fact that my mother who refuses to retire from teaching ESL, occasionally has contact with Jay Young who is a supervisor in her district which is in the metro Detroit/Dearborn, MI area. The funny thing is that we were not originally MI but from PA. What are the odds that my parents and the Youngs would end up so close to each other.

Living in Brazil opened my mind and heart to other cultures and and taught me to appreciate the little things in life. Rather than complain about what we don't have, we should be thankful for what we so often take for granted....multiple pairs of shoes to choose from, choices for meals, not whether we eat or buy medicine, which vehicle to drive, ac on or not, running water, hot water, plumbing, the list goes on and on.

What do I remember about Graded? The guys playing "Guts" in the smoking lounge, Mr. Gulati letting me study in the library when I didn't feel prepared for my calc exam-on several occasions, making animated short movies in English--film making class, unidentifiable foods from the cafeteria, outside corridors, school musicals and cast parties, trips to Campos do Jordao and the Marine biology lab in Sao Sabastiao and fetal pig dissection with Carolee Matsumoto in our adv bio classes, Dr. Lee trying to make us understand chemistry, Brazilian coca cola was the best--sweeter and more carbonated, Guarana, the ultimate in soda, the grass hut where we congregated between classes and at lunch, the gigantic rats that would disappear through the grates in the corridor walkways, our senior class fashion show, our senior class trip to Salvador, Bahia.....I was actually in the Class of 77 but graduated a year early with the Class of 76, so I feel like I belong with both.