There are only a few of us left at UFV who were here when Diane arrived as a student and are still here to give tribute to her extraordinary career and service. Even in her beginnings as a student, she was certainly not as hesitant as she recalls. Our introduction came when she enrolled in Econ 110 in the fall term, 1984. During that semester, my son was born, and I was away from a class. On my return, the occasion of my new fatherhood status gave her the opportunity to lead the class in a tongue and cheek skit about how it did not make economic sense to have children. Of course now, her grandchildren are a delight for her that money cannot buy.

In her reminiscence, Diane speaks of the UFV community as a small village of people genuinely caring for each other as citizens in a collective mission to provide the greatest possible educational potential for our students. It was this collective spirit that enabled our nearly seamless transition to a university college in 1992, and to our subsequent transition to a university in 2008. For most, this collective spirit takes some time to fully appreciate, but when in need, there are many of us who can attest to the wonderful support we were accorded. (In my case the Beverly tulip comes to mind.) Diane was always central to that support, no matter her role.

Diane mentioned the infamous boat cruise. This was a jointly organized event between the FSA and management to mark the last Christmas of the 20th century. It attracted nearly everyone in the UCFV community, the boat was seriously overcrowded and the caterer did not provision nearly enough food. This resulted with the upper deck being issued wine instead of food! Barry commented at the time, that in our retirement, that night would be remembered, and so has Diane!

Around the time Diane assumed her AVP role, the Post-secondary Employers’ Association had become, by provincial legislation, the bargaining agent for the colleges and university colleges. No longer would UFV be self-determining in our labour relations. It was inevitable that our collaborative and distinctly local (and trend-setting) labour relations history would become more provincial, more constrained, and more complicated. Even so, those familiar with this transition would certainly agree Diane upheld as best she could the bargaining tradition and legacy that so shaped the university’s development.

I have to marvel at the constant energy Diane brought to her work. She came into her AVP role at a time when the institution, then still a university-college, had expanded substantially and the existing administrative systems for human resources were either overtaxed or non-existent. In her time, Diane stewarded the development of a wonderfully effective and efficient team in her area, inspiring the next generation of leaders in human resources at UFV. This is a durable legacy of Diane’s work about which she can be immensely proud.