Photo by Dave Siccardi
I was born in Guam. I’ve lived in San Diego since 1983. My husband Jon and I live in Alpine and have a blended family of five children, and six grandchildren. When I “retired” from a full-time job many years ago, I joined a few non-profit organizations in San Diego, helping with fundraising. My husband also has a non-profit organization he belongs to. I am currently on 3 boards and being kept quite busy – it’s almost a full-time job, but I enjoy it and feel that I am doing a little to help our community. I love to travel and my husband and I have done quite a bit of traveling abroad pre-COVID. I completed a bucket list trip to Egypt and Jordan this past January with a girlfriend and it certainly met all my expectations! An amazing trip. I am an avid golfer. I try to play twice a week with a regular group. I also took up Mahjong – heard it was a great game to play to keep the brain active – and I enjoy it quite a bit. I am a big dog and cat lover – we have a rescue cat now and are soon to add a dog to the family.
“I am on the Sharp Grossmont Hospital Operating Board as well as the Foundation Board. Sharp Grossmont Hospital now has the unique opportunity to transform the existing rehabilitation hospital into a state-of-the-art Neuroscience Center. The vision is to create San Diego’s first single center of excellence for patients needing advanced neurosurgical, neurological, and comprehensive spine care. The remodeled space will feature an inpatient progressive care unit, an inpatient rehabilitation unit, and a new 16-bed neuro-intensive care unit (Neuro-ICU), as well as complete physical therapy and occupational therapy gymnasium areas.
This is very exciting as nothing like this exists in San Diego and this center will be a benefit for San Diego. Construction is underway and the first phase is expected to be completed by the Summer of 2024 and the full project completion by January 2025. Grossmont Hospital Foundation is committed to fundraising for this center and I’m happy to be Co-Chairing this fundraising effort along with Dr. Ramin Raiszadeh, Orthopaedic Surgeon.”
About Dee Ammon
Q: Please tell us a little bit about your family.
My husband is a contractor, I know he’s chomping at the bit to retire. His sons work with him in the business. My daughter lives in Kentucky and works for a Thoroughbred trainer; my middle son is a teacher living with his family in Ft. Worth, Texas (he has 2 grandkids) my youngest is a doctor in Nebraska and he’s married to a cardiac nurse.
Q: Please tell us about your current, past, or future career. What do you love most about what you do?
I am quasi-retired as I work part-time for a homeowner’s association. I worked in legal, spending the better part of 17 years at a prominent law firm in San Diego, as a Systems Administrator managing the IT department and phone system as well as HR and winding down the law when it closed and winding down the firm’s off-site file storage.
Q: What advice would you give to people?
Work hard – enjoy what you do and seek out interesting individuals. Explore and have an adventure and add to your wealth of knowledge. Embrace your family and community and if you can, give back to the community in whatever way you can.
Q: Where do you see yourself in 5 to 10 years?
Not working as much and doing more traveling with the grandkids so they can broaden their horizons.
Dee Ammon & Our Community
Q: What are a couple of your favorite restaurants in our community?
Parc Bistro, RoVino and Nine-Ten
Q: How long have you lived or worked in our community?
1983
Q: Who is the most interesting person you’ve met here in our community?
Joyce Glazer
Q: What current or former local business makes you the most nostalgic about our community?
Horton Plaza and Starlight Bowl in Balboa Park
Q: What is your favorite thing or something unique about our community?
Balboa Park. I love to go on a Sunday afternoon – pop in a museum; the Botanical Garden; go to some of the shows like the Plumeria or Gardenia show and just take in the beauty of Balboa Park
Q: If you could choose anyone alive today and not a relative; with whom would you love to have lunch? Why? And where locally would y’all meet for this lunch?
Dr. Edith Eger. She is a holocaust survivor and I would love to talk to her about WWII and her experiences over lunch at George’s at the Cove
For Fun
Q: What is one of your favorite movies? TV shows?
Sound of Music is my favorite movie! 24 was my favorite TV show till it was canceled now it’s Yellowstone
Q: (Even for friends or family), what is something interesting that most people don’t know about you?
I am a WWII buff. I watch a lot of documentaries on the European and Pacific conflict, and when traveling in Europe I visit battlefields if they are in the area.
Q: What would you rate a 10 out of 10?
A Zip Line!
Q: Who inspires you to be better?
My grandkids
Q: Finally, what 3 words or phrases come to mind when you think of the word HOME?
Guam; its culture and food; family gatherings with sing-alongs (my family was very musically inclined)
