Lorraine: I'm a New Yorker. I've been here 42 years. I mean, I would’ve—when my husband died—I would’ve gone anyplace. Hopefully New York.

But my kids all came back here because they wanted to take care of me. You know, they thought I needed monitoring. My husband was a physician—that’s how we got here. I was in love with him. Ninety-seventh Street and Central Park West to Rawlins, America. I said, “I think it takes you a year to get used to the altitude,” and my husband said, “I think you were depressed for a year.” So it took a long time.

I was a New York City visiting nurse. I went to school in Brooklyn, New York, in a 2,000-bed hospital. I worked in drug abuse. I did a lot of things. And I came as Lorraine Selino—because I was a professional person before I met him. I was very happy to be married to him. He was the love of my life for 30 years.

But when I got to Rawlins, people would go, “That’s Dr. Klein’s wife. That’s Dr. Klein’s wife.” And I kept saying, “Well, you know, I was a professional person before I met him. I actually hired him for a job.” But nobody would ever call me Selino. So I said, “I’ll just hyphenate it.” That’s how I got to be hyphenated.

It was a very strange thing for me—because in Manhattan, nobody cares what you do. You might be the CEO, you might be a doctor, a lawyer… nobody cares. People are just people, and you have your circle of people you hang around with. But nobody really cares.

Nancy: And you found that to be very different in Rawlins?

Lorraine: I found that to be different. It was a little less so here [in Laramie], but people... nurses... when I’m in the nursing home—I still work. I have my own foot business, and I teach, and I’m going to set up a program for the high school for nurse’s aides. I did it for 11 years when Dan died because I had to have healthcare. It was before Affordable Care. So—18 years with Blue Cross Blue Shield—and they said: $920 a month with a $2,000 deductible. No eye, no dental, no drugs. You know, it was before Affordable Care, so they could do whatever they wanted. I know this sounds strange, but I couldn’t afford that. I just couldn’t.

So—I have a teaching degree as well as a nursing degree. So I said, “Let me try this. Let me get out of this.” See, after 30 years of marriage, you have to figure out who you are. Especially if it’s the love of your life. So I said, “Let me teach.” And I ended up teaching that for 11 years.

I retired at 67 because I was worried about lifting and moving people at 67 in the nursing home. And I know my boss said, “Oh, you don’t really have to lift people, do you?” But how do you teach kids and work with kids—and not work with them?

I’m a geriatric nurse. So I love those peeps. I love geriatric medicine. I’ve always done it. My husband was an internist. I love working with seniors. This time, they wanted me to set up working again. They got money and a grant. So I set it up. 

Then they said, “We have a nurse who can work with you, but she’s not qualified.” There's a federal law that says you have to have worked in a nursing home for one year. To prove I had done that, I had to go back 25 years to Rawlins. The place I worked there had four or five owners, so they didn’t have any records.

But Patty Butler, who was a social worker and the admissions person at that nursing home at the time (with four different owners since I’ve been here), she said, “Oh, she worked at the nursing home. I worked there when she worked there.” And that’s how I got qualified—because they didn’t have any records. And they wouldn’t accept seven years of experience in hospice. 

So now, in January, I’m going to be teaching this again. I’m just going to be their expert consultant—only three hours a day. One for prep and one for teaching. But they just opened up a line now, so maybe they’ll be able to hire someone. Because the woman who wanted to do it... really, there’s a difference between a wish and a desire. She has a wish—but no desire to complete the necessary stuff. And that’s okay. She’s a lovely person. But she’s not doing it.

So... I have to have somebody. So I am going to be teaching in January—from January to May—high school. Three hours in the morning.

Note: The transcript above has been condensed from its original audio recording to improve the flow and readability of the story.