Diane Rangel honored on retirement after 41 years

Wednesday, July 14, employees of Lamb Healthcare Center honored Diane Rangel with a luncheon party to celebrate her retirement after 41 years of service to the hospital.

Employees served a pot luck lunch and a cake.

A gift table displayed photos of Diane and fellow employees, gifts, and a money tree.

Special guests for the event were her husband, Joe Rangel, her son, Joey Rangel of McKinney, her daughter, Amber Rangel and her children, Delayna and Daniel Garcia.

Diane is a long-time Lamb County resident. She and her 11 Gonzales siblings spent their early childhood years in the Spade community. She met her future husband here in Littlefield. The family later moved to Hereford. In 1974, she married Joe Rangel and made her home in Littlefield. Diane and Joe both worked at the Medical Arts Hospital in Littlefield.

Diane worked in Reception and Joe worked in Maintenance until the county decided to build the new Littlefield Medical Center. Diane started working there when the facility opened in 1979. Joe joined the staff of Littlefield Medical Center when Medical Arts closed in 1982.

When asked about her career advancement, she stated that she had taken accounting courses after high school. She started out answering phones, then she went to admitting, then on to insurance and billing, before finally ending up in accounts payable. At the time of her retirement, Diane is serving as the Manager of Accounts Payable and Payroll. She will remain at the office until she completes training her replacement, Darlene Sierra.

When asked about any special plans when she finally leaves the hospital, she broke into a big smile and announced that she and seven of her nine sisters are travelling to Destin, Florida.

When asked for a comment concerning her place of employment for the last 41 years, she said, “The people I have worked with here were always welcoming and were always here for each other...like a family. Through all the ups and downs, the different ownerships, the changes, we always worked together to keep things going. We know how important it is for the people here to have the best medical care we can provide.””