Our mother was a kind, stubborn and caring woman that wanted to help others. She did this by education in many forms. First, she attended W. A. Foote Memorial School of Nursing and became a registered nurse. This is when she met Kenneth McGuire and married him. She worked in the office of Dr. Schmidt while raising us: Lorri, Bethany and “Sun” Kenneth. She moved on to become a home health nurse and then worked for Hospice. It was during her home health work that she realized a niche need in helping her patients and went to Cleveland Clinic to become an Enterostomal Therapist. She further saw a need for education and obtained her Bachelor of Science. She proudly graduated with Lorri’s roommate, Teresa, right before Lorri obtained her college degree. Go Broncos!
With this educational background, Mom helped many people and became so close that she was like family. Our house was littered with many presents that her patients made for her or gave her as a token of their appreciation. She spent many hours, including nights and weekends, making sure that her patients were comfortable and that their families felt confident in taking care of their loved one. This was especially important during her work in Hospice. She made sure to educate, whether medical procedures or emotional support, her “families” during the emotional end journey of helping their loved one. She recruited my dad during late night calls (or rather he persisted in going with her just to ensure her safety). She even recruited me, Lorri, to accompany her on one of her visits. Since that visit, I have always been amazed at how she quickly encompassed the family, calmed and comforted them, prepared the patient for the funeral home’s arrival, and finished any other needed details. It only took that one trip to know how important her work was and how this job was meant for only special people to do.
But educating wasn’t just limited to nursing. It was at “the lake” that she and my dad helped many people learn to ski or swim. Weekends and summers were busy with family and friends visiting to learn how to make pie-makers after a busy day in the sun. Mom would always have plenty of food for pie-makers because the smell of them cooking amazingly attracted our next door cousins to join (right, Laurenne?). Mom and Dad loved having people visit and hosted many a niece or nephew for lake “vacations” and visits (right, Sean and Kay?). It was also at the lake that our “adopted” son, Mike, learned the fine art of not only skiing but tubing. In later years, Mom would join us in the lake to help her grandchildren swim while she would show them synchronized swimming moves from her high school years. Or she would be in the water holding the next soon-to-be water skier as Dad waited for her “ready” signal to gun the boat. It is at Farwell Lake that Mom enjoyed her final years watching from the porch as her great grandchildren learned to swim and watched the hummingbirds zoom in for a drink.
Then dementia thought it would teach my mom a few lessons. She did learn some interesting sign language that involved one finger. She did learn a new word, “dumb shit”, which was saved for special moments, or people. She did learn how to stash her jelly beans in her pocket to have handy whenever needed. She did learn that potato chips are an important dietary requirement. And she did learn that watering the rose my Dad gave her, or the flowers that she made us pick (clover or other weeds such as Queen Anne’s Lace and dandelions), with Pepsi seemed to work best in her opinion. But Mom, being the stubborn Hospice nurse that she was, gave dementia a “dumb shit finger flick” quick lesson. She died on October 20. Our family said our goodbyes in the wee hours of Tuesday morning.
Mom is being cremated and then we will have a memorial with family and friends at Farwell Lake in the spring. We will get the date to you when it is decided upon. We would love to have you share any memories, stories, pictures or songs. Trust me, there are many to be told (right, Aunt Karen?).
In keeping with a real obituary, Dianne Louise Anderson McGuire (DAM-appropriate, right?), born December 16, 1937, was the daughter of Marjorie (Davis) and Robert Joseph Anderson. She passed away on October 20, 2020. She was preceded in death by her brother, Allan Anderson; her sisters, Lynette Zotter and Pamela Connelly. Surviving are her husband of 62 years, Kenneth Perry McGuire; daughter Lorri LM McAlpine (Brian); daughter Bethany Louise Satterfield (Greg); and son Kenneth Patrick McGuire (Julie); her grandchildren Megan (Goodall) Manzella, Lindsay (Goodall) Webb, Savannah Ray, Madison Satterfield, Mac Satterfield; her great grandchildren Cora, Raegan and David Webb; and her granddogs Bella, Paris and Barkley.
Dianne was a fun-loving woman that loved to tease and her laughter could be heard down the street. She loved to sing and used her talent to lead a small church choir (the church used to be on Clinton Road where JaxNaz is now located) and sing in the choir at First Presbyterian Church. She loved helping others, camping and traveling during retirement with her husband, Ken. Her favorite place to be was at Farwell Lake watching her hummingbirds on the porch. Her family and friends will always cherish her kind heart, bandaids and butterfly stitches, and her laugh. May she have fun now that she has joined her siblings in pestering her mother once again.
Mom is being cremated and then we will have a memorial with family and friends at Farwell Lake in the spring. We will get the date to you when it is decided upon. We would love to have you share any memories, stories, pictures or songs.
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