PERU — Kathleen Richard has devoted her life to teaching and nursing, with at least 20 years in each profession. After being in the work force since she was 12, she’s ready for some time off.

Richard, 61, will retire as fifth-grade teacher at Dirigo Elementary School in Dixfield in June.

The Rumford native began her career as a candy striper at Rumford Community Hospital when she was 13. She eventually became a licensed practical nurse and was studying to become a registered nurse.

Thanks to a young niece, she discovered she loved teaching.

Richard was reading to her one day and thought, “this is fun.”

She’s been an educational technician, a long-term substitute teacher and for the past nearly 15 years, an elementary school teacher. The latter job has been mostly at the Dixfield school.

“And now I’m retiring,” she said.

She has enjoyed the children, particularly those in the fifth-grade, she said.

“Every year I have a different group of kids. I learn something new about them, and some of the things that come out of their mouths, you have to laugh,” she said.

Fifth-graders are self-sufficient, she said. “They can work on their own when they need to.”

Once her husband, Gregory, retires, she hopes to do more traveling and camping. Now, the couple is getting a space at Cathedral Pines Campground in Eustis, and they hope to spend every weekend there.

She’s also about to get a new miniature schnauzer puppy to keep her other dog company and to replace a beloved miniature schnauzer that had to be euthanized recently.

Richard loves to read so she plans to spend a lot of time catching up on murder mysteries, romances, biographies and books about World War II, Native Americans and the paranormal.

“I leave with mixed feelings,” she said. “I know it’s time to go. I want to go out while I still enjoy what I do.”

She doesn’t plan to be completely out of the work force, though.

A cousin owns a travel agency in South Carolina. Richard is hoping to assist her by booking trips and tours from her home in Dixfield.

“I’m glad I did what I did. It was the right decision for me to go into teaching. I’ve had two careers and I’m credentialed in both,” she said.

She and her husband, an employee of NewPage paper company, are the parents of one son who lives in Iowa.