Imagine boarding a bus in southern Alabama for a 900-mile ride to Michigan. One might expect a serious culture shift by journey’s end.
For Nettie Richard — a 16-year-old high school sophomore when she made the trip in the early 1960s — leaving the segregated south was like entering a new world.
Photo by Scott Soderberg, U-M Photo Services.
“It was a great change. In Alabama there were ‘colored’ water fountains and the (theater) balcony was marked ‘colored’ — but it was not here,” says Richard, an administrative assistant/entrance screener for U-M Hospitals and Health Centers Security and Entrance Services at the Cardiovascular Center.
With her younger sister Suzanne, Richard had left her grandmother’s house in Stockton, Ala., to join her mother in Ypsilanti and attend Ypsilanti High School.
“When I got here it was amazing to go to school with other people not of my race,” she says. Richard says it took time to get comfortable with all of the changes that come with moving to a new area and meeting new people.
“I loved physical ed, that’s where the interaction began. Playing basketball, running track, having swimming together; I began to see there was no difference in us other than our skin color.”
This appreciation of diverse people, stirred in high school, is evident today in how Richard performs her job at the Cardiovascular Center, her coworkers say.
“I’m here to serve the patients in any capacity they will allow me. I’m in my element at this round desk,” she says.
Richard first worked for U-M in 1969 in food service at the University Hospital. She attended Washtenaw Community College after high school, but after one semester left her U-M job and college as she married, and raised two children.
When the marriage failed, “I sort of picked myself up by the bootstraps. I went to the IBM Automation Institute to get a skill,” Richard says. She ultimately was hired at the General Motors Hydromatic plant in Ypsilanti and worked there 31 years, before being laid off in 2004 due to the recession. She returned to U-M in June 2007.
On a typical workday, Richard can be found at the third floor welcome desk. “I give directions, and if they need assistance to get to their appointment I get them a wheelchair,” she says.
“I am to be friendly, approachable, respectful and easy to talk with,” Richard says, adding she also must be prepared to give directions to anyplace in the hospital, and to local shops, restaurants and more.
She has won several You Make a Difference Awards, because of positive customer comments.
Outside of her job, Richard is focused on her work with West Willow Church of God in Christ in Ypsilanti. A member since 1989, she carries the title of missionary or evangelist and teaches Bible study classes and helps with youth groups.
She enjoys overnight youth outings at Eastern Michigan University recreation facilities, adding a key to success at such outings is making sure hungry teenagers have enough to eat.
Richard’s daughters, now grown, are Desiree and Rhonda; she has four grandchildren. “I’m going to school to get a degree in Christian studies, just to enhance my spiritual knowledge,’ she says.
Richard says the most important thing about doing her job is “to be very understanding of the people you will meet — always be aware of their feelings and be as helpful as they can to make their stay or visit a positive one.”
The weekly Spotlight features staff members at the university. To nominate a candidate, please contact the Record staff at [email protected].
