The paint is called “Karat Gold,” but Anne Dieters-Williams refers to her 2014 Ford Escape as being “Grizzly Gold” to match her Golden Grizzly pride for Oakland University.
“I was looking through the catalog and my husband would point out models. ‘Does it come in gold? Then I don't want it.’”
The gold is a brand new color for 2014 and is currently only available on the Escape, according to Curly Dan Wagner, the Huntington Ford salesman who worked with Dieters-Williams. She had come into the showroom several months ago asking about the color.
“She said ‘I love that color, it’s Oakland Grizzly gold and with the black interior that’s our colors. I bleed black and gold,’” Wagner recalls. Trying to hold her off until her lease was up, he was unsuccessful. “I put her off for about a month since the lease she was in was such a good deal, but she called me up and said ‘Nope, I got to have it now. Oakland basketball is playing tonight and I want that car in the O’rena parking lot.””
Dieters-Williams, a research analyst at OU, is a three-time alumni with a bachelor’s degree in public relations (‘83), a Master of Public Administration (‘09), and a post-master’s certificate in local government management. Her license plate even matches her OU job title — OU RESRCH.
“A lot of people think I'm a scientist when they hear I'm a research analyst at OU. I just let them believe that,” she says. But her role at Oakland is an important one — helping to keep the university connected with its alumni and community members.
Not only does Anne call OU home in many respects, so does most of her family. Her husband Joseph, who is a program manager at Ford, also has his Master of Public Administration from OU. Two of their daughters are also alumni; Amy Dieters (CAS '10 and '12) and Sarah Dieters (SEHS '13). Her youngest daughter, Molly Dieters, attended OU before joining the Navy and will complete her degree after her enlistment and her son Sam Williams will be attending OU in 2015.