Feature
PIONEER PRIDE. While commencement is always a joyous time for families to celebrate—it means more when the experience is shared.
John’s wife, Christine ’07 and ’09, a nurse practitioner at Dover-Phila Family Medicine, fought cancer during her master’s program. His daughter, Richelle Richardson ’08, and ’11 had a daughter while completing each of her degrees. John II ’11 and ’13, celebrated the birth of his son, John III while finishing his MSN. “You might say Malone is in our blood,” says John I with a chuckle. “We’ve been through a lot, but we’ve really enjoyed going through the program together.” Richelle claims that she and her father were the best study partners. “My brother thinks like my mom, but my dad and I think in the same terms,” she says. “So we helped each other. And my dad was so helpful to me especially in the pharmacy
{16} Malone Magazine | Spring 2013
classes because of his work with oncology patients for so many years and knowing all of the different kinds of cancer drugs.” Father and son attended Commencement services in May and will finish the last of their coursework in August. “Both the nursing degree completion program and the MSN are really a ‘working person’s program,’” says John II, an RN at Mercy Hospital in their critical care unit. “We’ve really liked being able to take one class at a time, and feel like we’ve been prepared really well. When I talk to employers who find out I earned my degrees from Malone, they want to hire me.” Richelle enjoyed both programs, but especially her MSN.