Born 4/7/48 at the old St. Joseph Hospital in Omaha to Frank and Marjorie Patstone. Died 2/4/16 at Immanuel Hospital. She had fought cancer to a standstill, but lost the battle against various complications. Even in her weakened state she would insist on doing most things by herself realizing it would help her get better.
She was preceded by older brother David in 1981, her mother in 2002 and her father in 2006. She is survived by husband Larry; children Wendy Platt and husband Sean, Amy Mefford and husband Aaron, Kendra Burgess and husband Austin, Matt Mueller, Jason Mueller, Vaughn Cotton and wife Krystal, and Caleb Cotton; seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren; younger sister Patti McChane and husband Bob; also many nieces and nephews, beloved pets and plants.
She had great faith in God and studied the Bible nearly every day with the Shepherd's Chapel on satellite TV. For the last twenty years or so we traveled to Arkansas twice a year to study with fellow members of the Chapel who came from all over the country. She was extremely happy that we had reservations again this year for today (April 2nd).
She was never one to sit back and watch. She wanted to do things herself. One of the many things on her bucket list was to someday walk the Appalachian Trail. She was an avid reader and loved to read the accounts of people who did. She was always studying survival techniques and was confident she was prepared for anything. This past year she would laugh when she told people that her "bucket" was getting a lot of holes in it these days.
After we were married her father came to Omaha with his wife for a visit and we followed them back to California, camping out several times along the way. One morning her dad and I were having coffee in Zion National Park in Utah and I looked up across the Virgin River and saw her scaling a sizable mountain. I said to him "why is she doing that" and his answer was "because it's there".
She often traveled to the Badlands of South Dakota (her favorite place) by herself. Every month was included except June and July. She loved the cold and hated the heat. She never stayed in motels, preferring to either sleep on a picnic table or in her VW Beetle. She always said she was born 100 years too late and would have loved to have crossed the prairie in a covered wagon like her ancestors. Her dad's wife once described Diane and her dad as "Neanderthals."
Diane had many talents. She could write with either hand and do it at the same time. She loved classical music and started piano lessons at an early age and became quite good. After one arm got messed up in her second motorcycle wreck, it became more difficult to play. She still dreamed of getting a new Triumph America motorcycle until she realized she probably couldn't hold it up any more. She loved to paint and refurbished our old 100+ year-old farmhouse by herself. She would read books to see how to do it herself if she didn't already know how. She was born with a lot more common sense than most people. She was a very good photographer and developed her own film when we lived in town. We don't have a regular sewer in the country and she didn't want the chemicals going into the septic system. That was about the only thing she missed about living in town. She always felt blessed to live in the country.
She never had a problem finding a job. Among her many occupations was working at a car wash, sorting manufacturer coupons (her least favorite), driving a cab, driving a parts truck for a major automobile dealer, cooking for children at a large daycare, demolition photographer and her last job was as sales clerk/grower at Indian Creek Nursery. That job was supposed to be part-time temporary but lasted for twenty-two years. She also flunked the Post Office final test on purpose realizing she couldn't work inside all the time no matter how good the pay.
She was always a prankster and loved pulling practical jokes. Someone called Indian Creek Nursery once looking for poison nails to kill a neighbor's tree which was intruding into his yard. Diane was so tickled that someone would think there was such a thing she set up a display in the store of "Poison Nails" which she actually spray-painted red. She always described herself as a Bugs Bunny. In fact she wanted us to have a casket here today with Bugs in it!
Diane became famous for throwing Halloween parties. She would choose a theme and spend literally hours preparing the barn, the "Black Cat Cafe" and even the pasture. One year we had around 200 attendees. She mowed a path in the pasture and provided candles along the way but you had to watch out for unexpected scary things to appear, including the grim reaper. One year she took pictures of the grandkids, blew them up to life-size and pasted the pictures on styrofoam heads. She provided bodies and dressed them in scary garments. I rolled in laughter when they stared at themselves with eyes bulged out. When her lungs got bad she had to avoid the dust in the dirty barn so the famous Halloween parties had to end. I'm sure she would still be doing it otherwise.
She loved to get out even with her oxygen tank and go shopping especially at Whole Foods. She would get a "clown car" and slowly motor around the store. She always bought organic foods if available and non-GMO foods and she would buy meat and eggs, etc. from free range, grass-fed animals. I really think that was a big factor in controlling her cancer as she hadn't taken chemo for nearly two years.
She loved animals and any photographs of her as a child usually would include a cat. She always referred to herself as "Queen of the Cats". That was her email address. She was a member of the Wildlife Rescue Team for a few years and her "patients" included squirrels (her favorite), rabbits, birds, weasels, raccoons, coyotes and a prairie dog. She babysat a python one time for three weeks until it escaped in the house. She figured it must have been hungry and refused to feed it a live mouse, thus sent it back to its owner. Sitting on the couch with her having it around her neck definitely helped me get over my extreme fear of snakes.
In Diane's memory if you have any pets give them an extra hug today!
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