Forty years after completing his degree, Richard Valdez finally checked off an important experience from his bucket list.
Walking across the stage at Fresno State’s graduation.
Valdez graduated from Fresno State in 1983 with a degree in criminology, but never walked. He changed that on May 17, when he returned to participate in the College of Social Sciences commencement ceremony at the Save Mart Center.
“Fresno State offered me the opportunity to walk the ceremony, which would have been May of 1984. That was the date that I was supposed to walk.”
But Valdez had already began his career as a correctional officer at the Soledad prison by that time and chose not to return to Fresno to walk in the commencement ceremony.
Instead, Valdez focused on his career and his family. He married his college sweetheart, and they started their life together. To this day the couple is still together.
Richard Valdez and five of his nine grandchildren.
Valdez credits his success to his education at Fresno State and his family.
“As I was progressing in my career, I looked back and realized if it wasn’t for a lot of that knowledge, skills and the education that I was getting at Fresno State, I may not have survived this type of career,” Valdez said.
Valdez said he learned to see inmates as people instead of prisoners.
“One of the things that [Professor Emerita Dr. Ruth] Masters emphasized back then is that when people are in prison, we’re not there to punish them. They’re already being punished by being sent away from their families,” Valdez said.
Valdez said his job as a correctional worker was to treat the inmates with dignity and respect.
Valdez’s career spanned 30 years, working in different positions in corrections. Eventually Valdez transferred from Soledad to San Diego where he currently lives.
Valdez retired early at age 50, and for the past 10 years there has been one goal that has been on his mind — walking across the graduation stage.
“For the last 10 years…I’ve been contemplating and just pondering. You know, why didn’t I walk?” Valdez said.
Last year, Valdez drove up to Fresno State to attend his niece’s graduation. He saw her joy and it inspired him to ask if he could also walk.
“I didn’t know if it was possible or not, so I contacted Fresno State and said, ‘Hey, I would like to walk the line,’ and I’m so thankful that [the] department said ‘yes,’” Valdez said.
Valdez celebrated his graduation in front of his family, including five of his nine grandchildren. He said his desire to walk during graduation wasn’t only for himself, he wanted to do it for his grandchildren.
“It would inspire them, and that’s probably the most important thing for me,” Valdez said. “Allowing my kids to be inspired by seeing their grandfather walk.”
