ZONTA CLUB OF THE PIKES PEAK AREA

Member Profiles Diane Riggs

Hi, I am Diane Riggs. This is hopefully a quick snapshot of who I am, where I've been and what I do. I grew up in the first "planned" community west of the Mississippi - Kirkwood, MO - a suburb of St. Louis. I am the second oldest of seven children and, as number two, "we try harder." Also as part of a large family, I couldn't wait to get out! We frequently traveled to Denver where my mother's brother and family lived. As part of this rendezvous, we vacationed - as a rather large clan - to the Pikes Peak region. When my high school buds began talking of traveling to Colorado for further education, I said "no problem. Let's go!" My working career began at the Colorado State School for the Deaf and the Blind in a deaf-blind, rubella student program. I completed my degree at Colorado State University but left Ft. Collins to work at the now Colorado Mental Health Institute and later the Pikes Peak Mental Health Center. From there, I traveled to Seattle to complete my Masters at the University of Washington.

I thought living in the city was not so bad so decided to return to St. Louis. But St. Louis is not like Seattle so I departed for Colorado Springs. As fate would have it on that very night of my return, I met Kim Riggs who two years later became my husband. As a result, I have two daughters, Maggie, 19, and Laura, 16. Maggie did not adhere to my wandering star and settled herself at a very early age. She now has a 21/2 year old daughter of her own, making me a grandmother in the process. It was a struggle for me but she handled it well graduating high school and becoming assistant manager at the I-25/Garden of the Gods Conoco. Laura is a full-time high school student, on the Doherty Girls Track team, working at Sears on the weekends as well as a day care after school, and life-guarding in her spare time. She wants to attend college "near the beach."

I worked at Cheyenne Village followed by Penrose-St. Francis until consolidation of the home care offered me a severance package. I chose to stay in the Springs and picked up a research position at JA Worldwide. I research the K-12 education landscape and develop business, economic, and personal finance curriculum for this age group. I was offered the chance to visit Seoul and train volunteers from the community to deliver our programs. Volunteerism is completely foreign in this nation and it took a bit of convincing as to the benefits of the method.

This past summer I met women operating JA offices around the world. I listened to the struggles they have entering schools with economic curriculum in their nations and realized I am not as aware of women's issues internationally. When Zonta presented itself via a nut drive email I thought this would be a great opportunity to educate myself and do something at the same time. I was installed at Peterson Air Force base, January 23rd becoming the newest member of the Pikes Peak Region thus far in 2005.