Diane Becker's Obituary
By any fair standard Diane was an ardent traveler and accomplished student. While living and working in seven U.S. states and five Latin American countries she earned a Bachelors degree in Education, English and Theater; two Masters in Fine Arts and English; and the coveted Cambridge Certificate in English as a Second Language.
But she considered these achievements only as short road stops on life's journey. The burning force which brightened and gave purpose to that journey was the family she formed, after marrying her college love Tom in 1963. Her powerfully heartfelt attachment to children began with the births of her own three: Colleen, Mary Ellen and Tom. As each of them was born in a different country, Diane would refer to them as her mini–United Nations. And then, with characteristic and always ready good humor, she would often remark that only time and biology prevented her from fulfilling her dream of mothering enough kids to populate the entire General Assembly of the United Nations! Predictably, Tom and the children would react with widened eyes and display mock horror.
One after the other, over the next chapter of her family's story, Samantha, Colin, Elizabeth, Trey and Grayson would appear as her beloved grandchildren. Very soon, each would learn to demand that their grandmother and close friend “Nany” recount to them one of her many publishable-quality bedtime stories about the adventures of “Hazel the Harmless Witch.” Even today, as they laugh about Hazel's feckless adventures, they recall the far-reaching and enduring impressions which frequent travels with their Nany in the U.S. and abroad made on their lives.
Diane's soul resonated with the American Southwest for 65 years. It is here that her ashes will soon be inseparable from the mountains, deserts and arroyos which she widely traversed on foot and horseback, and so deeply loved. And so it is that a birth in 1939 in Evanston, Illinois set in motion the triumph of 83 years of a full and purpose-guided life which ended on October 8, 2022 in Huntersville, North Carolina.
James Funeral Home, of Huntersville, is serving the family an obituary lovingly written by the family.
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