After over four decades of nursing, a Scranton native says farewell to healthcare.

Becky Wolf has been the Greene County Public Health Director since 2013, but even before that, she has been in nursing, seeing all different aspects of the trade. Growing up on a farm south of Scranton, Wolf earned her nursing degree from the College of St. Mary worked as a nurse at Mary Greenely Medical Center in Ames. She married her high school sweetheart Dave and moved back to Greene County where she started working at the medical center in Jefferson until 1988 when she joined the local public health department. 

Wolf describes the reasons why she went to work for public health, even though she admittedly had no idea what public health was about when she first started..

“For me originally I had three kids under (the age of) five and I needed some more work/life balance. So public health brought me to where I could have regular day hours, and have weekends off, and that kind of thing. And then I started realizing how wonderful public health nursing, as a field, was. I fell in love with it.” 

As Wolf reflects on her career, she talks about what she will miss the most.

“I think what I’ll miss the most are my friends and family of the public health department. I’ve been very, very fortunate and blessed to have great people that are very dedicated. They don’t come in and it’s all about them, it’s not. They are willing to do whatever it takes to make a difference and we love going out into the communities and doing events. It’s a hoot!”    

Wolf appreciates not only working with outstanding public health staff, but the partnership that public health has with the Greene County Board of Supervisors and the Greene County Board of Health throughout all of what life has thrown at them, especially during the covid pandemic times. She adds that in her retirement, she is going to spend more time with her grandchildren and family, but most of all be with her husband who she adores for always being there for her throughout her time with public health. Shelby Cooklin has taken over as the Greene County Public Health Director since October and Wolf will be officially retired on December 30th.

To hear more from Wolf about her career and retirement plans, listen to today and tomorrow’s Jefferson A & W Family Restaurant Let’s Talk Greene County program.