Diana Jane Knaak

Born and raised outside Chicago, Diana was the third of six children. A quiet, thoughtful child, she excelled in school, played clarinet in the marching band, and loved baking with her mother, Jane, who passed away when Diana was just 13.

Diana earned a BSc in Biology and Chemistry and soon moved to Canada, where she found her people in the Calgary Mountain Club and the Rocky Mountain Folk Club — friends she climbed with, played music with, and kept for the rest of her life. Through the 1970s she climbed in the Alps, Alaska, Yosemite, and across the Canadian Rockies, reaching the height of her mountaineering career in 1977 as part of a pioneering all women’s expedition to Mt. Logan. Through all this, she earned a Teacher’s Certificate and pursued her love of the arts through photography and painting.

In 1974 she met her partner, Alastair “Bugs” McKeith, an import from Scotland also drawn to the Rockies. Together they built a life shaped by creativity and adventure. Their daughter, Arran, was born in 1978, shortly before Bugs’ sudden passing. Diana devoted herself to motherhood while continuing her studies, completing a printmaking degree from the Alberta College of Art in 1998.

In 2015 she moved to Vancouver Island to be closer to her daughter. She became active in the Comox Valley Naturalists and Horticulture Societies and developed a deep knowledge of local ecology. She was an avid birder and lifelong learner, endlessly curious about the natural world. She spent her final years walking, tending the garden, and “just mucking about in nature.”

Diana was both an enigma and a paradox — serious yet playful, cautious yet brave, brilliant yet humble. She was richer in character than she ever let on, a woman whose depth was often quieter than the world around her.

On the night she died, she stepped outside beneath a clear, starlit sky and paused for a long moment, looking up. When her grandson learned she had passed, he asked, “Is Granny a star now?” For those who knew her — a woman who searched the natural world for meaning — it feels like the truest answer.

She is survived by her daughter, Arran; her son in law, Dustin; her beloved grandson, Isaak; and her siblings Julia, Lawrence, Linda, and Beverly, along with many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her partner, Alastair; her brother, David; and her parents, Jane and Edward.

Shine bright, Granny Tic Toc. We’ll look for you in the warm summer night sky.