Article by Gwen Jones, Department of Family Services
(Posted 2025 July)
Experiencing trauma in early childhood can affect a person throughout their life. It takes resilience and determination to move forward, find purpose and achieve personal growth. Despite a difficult start in life, Diana Artemis has lived a life of adventure and accomplishment. Now enjoying a much-deserved retirement, she devotes much of her time to helping others, grateful for the life she has built.
Diana Artemis was born in 1951 in Chicago, Illinois. Raised by parents who were alcoholics, her childhood was full of chaos and trauma. Her parents had little contact with their families, so Artemis was helped by people she calls guardian angels, often her teachers. Escape came when she left home to attend Clark University in Worcester, MA. Artemis worked to put herself through school, pursuing a degree in English.
After graduating from Clark, Artemis decided to do what many of her peers were doing – travel to Europe. However, unlike her peers whose vacations were funded by their parents, she paid her own way. After flying to Zurich, Switzerland, she enrolled in the Goethe-Institut in Radolfzell, Germany to study German language and culture. In September 1973, she was hired by Daimler Benz in Stuttgart to do office work and translate documents. Because her employer was generous with bonuses and vacation time, she traveled extensively throughout Europe, Africa and the Middle East.
After a few years, Artemis moved to Australia and taught high school for three years. During this time, she visited countries throughout the South Pacific. She also traveled with Australian friends to Asia, visiting Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.
Artemis visited Japan in 1978, then took a ship to Russia where she boarded the Trans-Siberian Railway. Her train travels took her across Russia and into Eastern Europe. Her trip ended in London, where she learned about a school in Perugia, Italy, that taught Italian to foreigners. After attending the school, she got a job in Rome teaching English as a second language.
In 1980, Artemis flew from Rome to Chicago after learning that her father had married for a fourth time. However, the family reunion was cut short when she called him from the airport. “He said ‘I’m sorry I don’t want anything to do with my first wife, or second wife. I love you, bye' and he hung up on me,” she recalls.
Alone in Chicago with no plans or a place to stay, Artemis went to a U.S. Air Force recruiting office, where she enlisted. Impressed with her extensive travels, work overseas, and language proficiency (German, Italian, Spanish, and Arabic), the Air Force assigned her to intel and sent her to Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado to learn about Soviet Warsaw Pact intelligence and weaponry. After completing her training, she went to Hahn Air Base in Germany and served as chief of operational intelligence for three F-16 fighter squadrons. “I was responsible for certifying that they could recognize the radar signatures and Soviet surface to air missiles and gave them generic information about how to evade missile fire,” she says.
Artemis served five years active duty and three years reserve with the U.S. Air Force. She often traveled to London to work with MI-6, the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom. She also traveled around the middle east and worked with the Israeli Defense Forces. Her work included leading intelligence trainings while working under General Lenny Perroots, the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Intelligence Director who later became the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. During this time, Artemis earned her master’s degree in public administration.
After leaving the Air Force, Artemis moved to Falls Church and pursued a career working for defense contractors. Her decision was influenced by her lack of family. “Because I was on my own, I always gravitated toward where I could make the most money. I was concerned because I didn’t want to end up old with rats nibbling on my toes,” she says.
During this time, Artemis found out that she had a genetic condition called hip dysplasia, where the hip socket does not fully cover the ball portion of the thighbone. Without surgery, this can lead to partial or complete dislocation of the hip joint. She believes that the severity of her condition may have been worsened by the physically demanding escape and evasion training she did with the Air Force in Germany.
In 1993, Artemis underwent hip replacement surgery. However, because of medical negligence, one of her hips had to be redone four times to correct the original surgery, causing her to miss work for several months. She wasn’t defeated by this experience though. “My favorite quote is ‘kites and planes rise against the wind,’ so when bad things happen, I go out there and make connections and I networked with patients and safety advocates all across the country.”
In December 1999, she was invited to testify about her experience before the Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations examining medical errors and patient safety. Her story was also included in a publication produced by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The publication was created to put a human face on medical deaths and injuries, and a copy was sent to every member of Congress.
Because her day job was lucrative but uninspiring, Artemis found purpose in her volunteer work. “I was co-chair of a Sierra Club volunteer national committee called the Committee for Sustainable Consumption, and we produced a video that appeared in the DC Environmental Film Festival,” she says. She was also passionate about helping animals and supported a variety of organizations, from local shelters to PETA’s Global Compassion Fund.
Artemis changed jobs, working for the chemical manufacturing industry and the American Petroleum Institute. She earned an associate’s degree in computer science from Northern Virginia Community College and worked in IT before landing what she calls “the coolest job of my life.” She joined Arlington County in 2006 doing business process improvement, where she worked with county agencies to assess how they worked and find ways to improve their effectiveness. Artemis worked there until retiring in September 2021 at age 70.
After working for 55 years, it took time for her to adjust to the slower pace of retirement. During the first year, Artemis visited the gym daily and after her workout, sat in the hot tub, feeling grateful. During the second year, she began practicing mindfulness and seeing a therapist to help her work through her trauma and anxiety, which she had kept at bay during her working life by staying busy.
Besides her daily workout, Artemis spends much of her free time volunteering. She works with the Adapted Aquatics program at the Providence Rec Center, swimming with children with autism or other disabilities. Her favorite part is the camaraderie she experiences, saying, “The other volunteers, the kids, the parents – I just love them all.”
She also volunteers with the Northern Virginia Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, advocating for people receiving long-term care services. The knowledge and skills she developed doing business process improvement have been useful in her LTC Ombudsman work, helping her to identify opportunities for improvement.
Artemis continues to prioritize learning, either by reading extensively or attending programs and events, often at her local library. Her family consists of her three rescue cats, who she adores, and she continues to support organizations that help animals. “I feel so blessed. I never thought I would survive. Post traumatic growth is so important. It’s important to let people know that tragedy is not the end, it’s the beginning,” she says.
This article is part of the Golden Gazette monthly newsletter which covers a variety of topics and community news concerning older adults and caregivers in Fairfax County. Are you new to the Golden Gazette? Don’t miss out on future newsletters! Subscribe to get the electronic or free printed version mailed to you. Have a suggestion for a topic? Share it in an email or call 703-324-GOLD (4653).