Then and Now: Beth Christensen
As we celebrate GGC’s 50th anniversary, we will publish monthly ‘Then & Now’ blog posts throughout 2024.
Follow along with us as we reminisce!
We’ve all heard the saying, “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.” I’ll be honest – I usually roll my eyes when I hear the old adage, but as I look through old GGC pictures and talk to coworkers who have been here for 30 plus (even 40 plus) years, I can’t help but think there has to be some truth to it.
Beth Christensen has been working at GGC for forty-six years! Yes, you read that right. Even though she officially retired three years ago (I hear grandchildren will do that to you) and works part-time now, she still arrives in the lab with a smile ready for writing lab reports.
Beth is a Greenwood native and a 1977 graduate of Lander College. She majored in biology and planned to teach science after graduation, but student teaching quickly changed her mind. Beth started working in the diagnostic laboratory at GGC in April 1978 as a technologist analyzing patients’ chromosomes.
Sidebar: GGC’s diagnostic lab now comprises a biochemical, cytogenetics, and molecular lab. When Beth joined GGC, we were mainly doing cytogenetics and some biochemical testing – cytogenetics was still the main way to make a genetic diagnosis at the time. (Learn more about analyzing chromosomes in GGC’s early days here.)
She was somewhat reluctant to start the position because she had never heard of this relatively new and incredibly small lab, plus genetics was not her favorite class at Lander. But she started working and quickly began to “love what she did” in identifying chromosomal abnormalities and being a part of giving families an answer.
Dr. Katy Phelan arrived in 1982 as GGC’s first cytogenetics trainee and then became the first director of the cytogenetics laboratory. It was under Dr. Phelan’s leadership that Beth became the lab supervisor and report writing was also added to her list of responsibilities; combining her love of science, reading, and learning. Dr. Barb DuPont became the next director of the cytogenetics lab, and Beth continued to write reports and remained the lab supervisor until her official retirement in 2021. And she continues to work part-time writing microarray reports that are shared with referring providers giving answers to families and guidance on what the complex reports mean.
Beth has seen so much change over her 46 years at GGC, such as learning new laboratory technologies and developing quality control measures for the lab to become CAP/CLIA certified. And of course, she has witnessed the tremendous growth of GGC and Greenwood’s surrounding healthcare community including the construction of all of GGC’s current buildings; the growth of Self Regional and the establishment of the Greenwood Medical Park, and the growth of the diagnostic labs from fewer than 10 employees when Beth started to 77 today! She has lots of non-genetics memories of GGC, too, such as GGC cofounder, Dr. Hal Taylor loading everyone up in his van taking the whole laboratory division to Yoder’s for lunch; the practical jokes played; karaoke at Christmas parties; dinners with coworkers who became family; and reconnecting and sharing an office with high school friend, Kim Stewart.
As Beth’s face lit up while telling these stories, I couldn’t help but think there is definitely truth in the old adage, but maybe “you’ll never work a day in your life” because you love what you do and who you work with. Like Beth says, “Why would I leave when I love it here?” And we’ll keep her for as long as we can.