The moment Dianna Christiansen of Three Rivers turned in her last assignment at Glen Oaks Community College, “I felt like I had won the lottery,” she said. “I was giddy with joy.”
When she walked across the stage on May 5, 2023 to receive her associate of business degree, summa cum laude, it was both the culmination of a lifelong dream and a stepping stone to further adventures.
“Unlike my high school graduation, this had significance and meaning,” she said. “I was so happy and relieved to finally do something that I had hoped to do for 50 years.”
Her winding path to college matriculation began in Mukilteo, Washington, about 30 miles north of Seattle. Growing up in the 1960s, “most of my activities were related to my horses, pets, friends and earning money to be able to have horses, pets and do things with friends,” she said.
She also loved reading, spurred on by a third-grade teacher who enhanced her learning experience and helped her discover books that she read to her own children and still loves today.
When post-high school she couldn’t afford attendance at nursing school or veterinary school, she began working at a series of jobs and several interesting careers.
“During my school years, I was always in demand as a babysitter, pet-sitter, pony farm worker, berry-picker, medical lab assistant, etc.,” she said. “I had some summer jobs in food service and pizza delivery. After graduating, my first full-time job was with Jansport, sewing backpacks and tents. I moved on from Jansport, to delivering products for a car parts warehouse. I averaged about 200 miles a day and enjoyed the freedom of being out on my own and seeing a lot of the countryside. Because of my driving experience I was contracted by Loomis to drive an armored van from Massachusetts to Seattle when I was only 21.”
While working for some former neighbors in the audio equipment business, she met her first husband.The couple had five children – but he left while Dianna was pregnant with their youngest. She forged ahead:
“I was able to find an affordable cabin with some land in the mountains of northeast Washington State, so when the youngest was two years old, we moved there. I homeschooled my kids and also milked cows for income at a neighbor’s dairy. We didn’t have much, but adopted a family motto, ‘all for one and one for all.’ We loved our place and had amazing, helpful neighbors. The kids had horses, ponies and a burro to ride and we raised rejected calves, and had geese, chickens, rabbits, etc. It was a special time for all of us.”
Five years later, introduced by a mutual friend, she married a man in Durango, Colorado and relocated there with her children, horses, and pets. Though the marriage didn’t last, many positive things came from the move – including the introduction to her future employers at a precious metals brokerage for whom she worked the next 15 years, selling investment metals to clients all over the United States.
She also had a 42-acre horse ranch and raised, trained and sold registered Norwegian Fjord Horses. Throughout this time, she continued to homeschool her children. Crystal, her fourth child, completed high school and many additional studies by 13, so she started college online until at age 16 she was able to drive to Fort Lewis College in Durango. She graduated with a dual bachelor’s at 17 and earned a master’s by 19. Another of Christiansen’s children earned a CPA, and another, who is an Army Ranger, has several computer-related degrees including a master’s in cybersecurity.
Crystal, now married to a man from Tamil Nadu, India, had five children and the family runs a school/orphanage which is involved in rescuing many children from trafficking.
“During all that time, I was hoping that I would have time to go to college myself someday,” Christiansen said.
The tides began to turn when Dianna met Ned Christiansen of Three Rivers while he was in Durango on business, and discovered they had a lot in common. With her children all independent, and her herd downsized to a few horses, the time was right for her to marry him and make Michigan her new home.