Diane Downing, caring mother and loving soul, passed away unexpectedly on November 26, 2022, with her family by her side.

Diane was born in 1950 and lived many full lives in her 72 years. She grew up on the Dunes of Michigan, the snow in Indiana, the mountains of Colorado and the heat in Texas. She had been to all but a few states, even if it was just crossing the border long enough to say she did (and got the tshirt) She always had a love of birds, even had a pet duck, she was tear gassed at a convention, played Paul Simon’s guitar, and sang Tom Dooley to Bob Shane. She was hilarious and daring and always up for anything. She had a love of music in her soul since childhood and her first love was the guitar. She played by ear and wrote song and after song after song. Everyone who got to know Diane already knows this and has their own memories of the joy and humor she brought, just by being herself. Whether she was Sarah Belle, Aunt Diane, Grammie, or Mom, she was all in. She had a spirit of adventure and an adorable quirkiness that gave us so many stories we will continue to tell for the rest of time.

She met her husband in the 70’s, and it was love at first sight, or sound rather, when he asked to borrow her lighter- she said she knew he was the one before even turning around. He was a freelance sign painter, and they became a team, traveling to different cities for new random jobs and opportunities that eventually led them to Texas where they finally put down roots in 1982. They had three children who were her whole world, firstborn Laura followed by twins Jeff and Julie.

She lost her husband in 1996 after a long health battle, and then had to take on the role of being a single mom to three angsty teenagers while becoming the sole provider but like she always sang – “I get knocked down, but I get up again” and she did, every time. She had earned her bachelor’s degree early in life and then began again taking classes at the local college for typing and secretarial work. She worked for a vending machine company and pulled flash off plasticware in a warehouse before finding her niche in aviation insurance where she would work until retirement January 2022.

She lost her son in 2009 to mental illness and had to learn to live without a piece of her heart. And somehow, she did, she learned to live with that missing piece of her heart now on the outside.

Diane is survived by daughters Laura Thompson and Julie Downing, her grandchildren Emma, Ethan, Clara and Dwight Jr as well as her siblings Fred Miller and Nancy Beeg Eldridge, and a host of nieces and nephews. Diane was predeceased by her husband Clay Downing, her sister Lynne Peterson, and her son, Jeffrey Downing.

Her saying for years as a joke was

‘I can think, solve problems, and do things’ but damn straight, she could, and she did. And she taught us the same.

We now must learn to live with a large piece of our heart on the outside, but we will embrace the laughter and love that remains in the memories.

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