Comets, EMT and a Harley

Photo: Sharon Bouchard

Diane Delano

Photo: .

Diane Delano at 6 years of age.

OXFORD – Diane Delano may have graduated from high school many years ago, but to achieve her goal in life continued study occupies a great deal of her time. 

Q:  Where were you born and where were you brought up?

A:  I was born at Norway Hospital and grew up in South Paris on Russell Street.

Q:  Do you have many siblings?

A:  Yes, I have two brothers, two sisters, two step-brothers and three step-sisters.

Q:  What did your parents do?

A:  My father worked at Paris Manufacturing.   My mother worked many jobs around the neighborhood; laundry, ironing, cleaning houses and babysitting.  She also worked at Cornwall Industries for quite a while until she remarried.

Q:  What was it like growing up?

A:  Growing up was simple as compared to today.  My parents were divorced when I was 10 and, as the oldest girl, I took on a lot of responsibility.  I had a group of friends around the neighborhood and we had sleepovers and campovers on my lawn. 

A bunch of us joined the Comets Drum and Bugle Corps and I played the bugle.  I wanted to be in the color-guard very badly, but was too young.  I eventually was in the color-guard for the high school football games.  Basically, I had a pretty good childhood.

Q:  Was there anything you wanted to be when you grew up?

A:  I started in a community program at the hospital during my junior year of high school assisting with autopsies.  That was incredible, but the program ended and I did not pursue anything for about 16 years. 

Eventually, I went back to school and got into the medical field.

Q:  Where did you go to school?

A:  I was a 1977 graduate of Oxford Hills High School and I am now working on my bachelor’s degree in Mental Health and Human Services through the University of Maine, Augusta. 

I also went to school for my Paramedic License, obtained my Instructor Coordinator Licensure to teach and then continued to obtain my Firefighter 1 certification.  I should be finished with my degree in 2014, then I think I am done!

Q:  Did you get into mischief or play pranks?

A:  Yes, much like most kids, but the problem was I always seemed to get caught.  I had to wash the windows on my neighbor’s house after one Halloween soap job and a little Vaseline on the door knob never hurt anybody, right?

Q:  What have you had for jobs?

A:  I have done a lot including babysitting, TV and satellite installation and repair, appliance repair, waitressing and bartending. 

Then I moved on to spinning and spooling at the Woolen Mill in Oxford to short order cook and eventually Emergency Medical Services. 

I worked 20 years in EMS on the ambulances and fire apparatus then retired as a Captain to work at the consult/transfer center at Central Maine Medical Center. 

I also run my own in-home business teaching AHA CPR and First Aid classes at all levels. 

Q:  When and how did you meet your spouse?

A:  I met Craig in 1981 while I was bartending at People’s Choice in Oxford.  We have been together ever since and been married three times.  We vowed to always keep it new by renewing our vows every 10 years.  Last year we celebrated 25 years!

Q:  What did you do for work when you got married?

A:  I worked as a spooler at Robinson Manufacturing in Oxford.

Q:  Do you have any children?

A:  I have one son named Malcolm.

Q:  Did you do much traveling?

I have traveled quite a lot to go to conferences and training programs.  We have taken a couple of vacations to Florida, I took one to California when my father was alive, and I went to Washington D.C. with Oxford Hills Middle School, and the ocean is always calling for me to visit.

Q:  Which place was the most fascinating and why?

A:  Most fascinating place was the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland.  It was incredible.  Not only the academy itself with its historic and academic virtues, but I enjoyed the history of the Civil War at Gettysburg, toured the massive medics ship USS and most of all my 10-hour ride-along with the State Police Air Medics and doing medic flights. 

We had a motor go down so they received permission to fly over Washington, D.C. to the repair base.  We flew down the Potomac and I felt like I could have reached out and touched the monuments.  What an experience and it is no wonder I went back to Maryland twice.

Q:  Did anyone influence you to the point of changing your direction in life?

A:  My son!  His birth changed my whole view on what was important in life.

Q:  Do you collect anything or have a hobby?

A:  I collect salt shakers, old bottles and love riding my “86 Harley Davidson or sitting with a good book.

Q:  Organizations?

A:  National Fire Academy Alumni and the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians.

Q:  What scares you the most?

A:  Politics! Government! Insurance! Fuel! Should I go on?

Q:  What is the one thing you would not give up?

A:  My family and my bike.

Q:  What is the one thing you would happily do over again?

A:  Marry Craig.

Q:  What was the best memory this interview brought back?

A:  The Fire Academy.

Q:  What would you like people to know about you?

A:  I say what I have to say and mean no harm if you don’t want to hear it.

Q:  Last day on earth, what would you do and with whom?

A:  Take a ride on the bikes with Craig and friends or, if too old, sit on the front porch rocking in our chairs and having a toddy.

Q:  If anyone could walk in right now, whom would you most like to see?

A:  Mom

Q:  Any heroes?

A:  Officer David Eaton, now deceased, will always be my hero.  He had faith in me when others had little and people like him are why people like me do make it in life.