Lisa Hoag and Donna Nicholas have known each other since nursing school.

That was during their days at Modesto Junior College.

Hoag, who is from Ripon – the Clinical RN still lives there – graduated from the nursing program in 1984 and started working at Doctors Hospital of Manteca.

Those were during the days when the entrance to the local hospital was on Cottage Avenue and the cafeteria had a smoking section.

Nicholas, who is and remains a resident of Modesto – she attended Grace Davis High – had two other jobs after nursing school including Doctors Hospital of Modesto, followed Hoag to Doctors of Hospital of Manteca.

They celebrated their 35th year anniversary this year and were in attendance at the annual DHM Service Awards lunch on Wednesday.

“It seems as the years went by fast,” said Hoag, a product of Ripon Christian Schools.

Nicholas is RN Shift Manager.

“Donna is all about the patients,” said her supervisor Beverly Fick. “She goes above and beyond her duties.”

 Distributing the awards were Chief Strategy Officer Preston Clark, Chief Nursing Office Fick, Chief Human Resources Officer Traci Holzer, and Chief Financial Officer Ryan Marshall.

All told, 64 were among the DHM employees to hit milestone anniversaries this years, tallying a collective 875 years.

Recognized were the following:

5 years: Amy Briggs, Maureen Stockton, Leslie Ann Estrella, Giselle Dahl, Barbara Cummins, Viktoria Pilipovich, Heather Womack, Joshua Caruso, Lisa Maria Gordon, Yekaterina Radu, Jessica Enriquez, Stephanie Dampier, Stacey Hogan, Kellie Kyle, Kimberly Lam, Elizabeth Greenwood, Crystal Pratt, Mishell Solorzano, Renee Lopez, Kristen Ramirez, Theresa Carrara, Whitney Carvajal, Tabitha Perez, Brian Beenes.

10 years: Lisa Gitthens Moses, Josephine Vanderwerff, Navroop Mahil, Martha Magana, Vanessa Carli, Wilma Apa, Kristine Lewis, Mary Roscelli, Christina McCabe, Mary Codde, Diana Jones, Navid Prasad, Mandy Yarbrough.

15 years: Linda Daniels, Michelle Olson, Josephine Vanderwerff, Marivic Fuentes. John Gutierrez, Hari Lakhan, Michael Ryan.

20 years: Darin Shaw, Reba O’Brien, Grace Anguiano, Sandra Hienz, Ian Sprenger, Shelly Sereno, Brandi Horne, Ronald Cookson, Beth Ballenger, Kerry Washington.

25 years: Tonya Perez, Kimberly Hedberg.

30 years: Carol Nagie, Toni Oliveira, Lynette Whittaker.

35 years: Donna Nicholas, Lisa Hoag.