Richalyn (Riki) Renfro:
CLASS OF 1963
Ockley Green Elementary SchoolClass of 1963
Portland, OR
California College for Health SciencesClass of 2000
National city, CA
University of New Mexico - NursingClass of 1985
Albuquerque, NM
David Douglas High SchoolClass of 1967
Portland, OR
Richalyn (Riki)'s Story
I’ll leave my old profile information here but must add an update. On January 18, 2020, my high school sweetheart and husband of over 51 years passed away. Steve’s funeral was at the Arizona Veterans Cemetery in Marana, just north of Tucson. He was given full military honors at a small service attended just by me, our sons, and their wives. He will be missed.
Yes, the first name is listed here as "Richalyn" but you know I answer to "Riki". Hasn't life been a great roller coaster! I spent 10 years as a secretary before going back to school to become an RN in 1985. I put hubby, Steve (DDHS Class of "66), through college, and then he returned the favor. After Steve finished college, he left the AF Reserves to go active duty, and we started our gypsy life by leaving Oregon for New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, South Carolina, and Germany. We returned to Portland after he left the AF in '91, but we moved again when I left the AF Reserves myself and went active duty for four years in California ('96-'00), then back to the Reserves till I retired from the Air Force in 2002.
In the meantime, our boys (Rob and Rich) grew up, got married, and had their own sons: Tre, Dylan, and Steven. We love being their indulgent and spoiling grandparents! We spent 11 years working with Boy Scouts when our boys were growing up, and our sons were leaders in their own sons' Scout groups. All three grandsons became Eagle Scouts. The photo of all of us was taken in May 2014 at a family reunion when we were in Florida for our eldest grandson's high school graduation. Now Tre is at Syracuse University in graduate school. His brother Dylan is at George Mason...Expand for more
University in Virginia. Their cousin, Steven is at Southern Oregon University. Look at those growing grandbabies!
We moved to Arizona in 2005 but returned to Oregon in 2009 to take care of my aging mother. After I retired from full-time work in 2011 were were able to load Mom and her little Pomeranian, Polly, into the motorhome and take off down the road between Oregon and Arizona. Mom and Polly both passed in 2013 so we sold the Oregon place in 2014. It was great to return to living full-time in Arizona and I returned to part-time phone triage work at Carondelet Nurse Triage in Tucson working from home. I also worked from home part-time for Night Nurse, another nurse triage group out of Framingham, MA.
Steve had two massive heart attacks, respiratory failure, and kidney failure for which he spent seven weeks in the Tucson VA Hospital in the summer of 2018, followed by three weeks in rehab. He was not expected to live and, if he lived, not expected to have his cognitive or physical functions. He didn't listen and defied all the doctor's dire predictions. He is under close medical supervision and our life definitely has a "new normal", but he is doing great and will hopefully have many healthy years ahead.
Whew, there's my whole life since high school in a nutshell. I don't know how all these wonderful years have flown by so quickly. In my mind I can still see myself with Polly at Ockley Green or Steve at David Douglas and it seems like it was just a minute ago. Now I have three adult grandsons! We are so lucky to be Baby-Boomers! Here's wishing good health, prosperity, love, and peace to all of us!!
Namaste,
--Riki
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