MEMORIAL SERVICE: Friday July 3rd, 10am. Rosewood Church, 10115 Rose St. in Bellflower CA. For those unable to attend in person, the service will also be live streamed on the Rosewood YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeHO4dLjEvaidJWuRfgeB4A
In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting that donations be made in Dianne’s name to CRWRC World Renew, at www.worldrenew.net
DIANNE was born on March 26, 1943 in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Marinus and Sadie Lanenga. The second of four siblings, she grew up with brothers Dave and Paul, and sister Marybeth. Her faith and sense of values were nourished at home and also at the Elementary and Middle School Christian Schools and at the Chicago Southwest Christian High School. Her maturing faith led her to make her Profession of Faith in 1959 and to join the membership of the Second Christian Church of Inglewood.
She was accepted at Calvin College, located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and arrived there in September of 1962.
On September 30 she accepted an invitation to a date by a foreign student from Argentina, whose name was Norberto. It was a key moment in both their lives. It was Norberto’s birthday and at the end of a very nice date, on an impulse, Dianne kissed him on the cheek and wished him a happy birthday. This touched Norberto’s heart. They kept seeing each other and their love grew throughout the school year. Dianne’s career at Calvin College was cut short by the untimely death of her father. She had to move back home to Chicago. Their love faced the challenge of long distance. But frequent letters, occasional visits, and committed hearts to faithfulness, bore fruit when they were married on June 5,1965.
Dianne supported Norberto through the last two years of Seminary. Then, in July 1967, Norberto accepted a call to a church in Argentina. They arrived in the city of Tandil, where Norberto was installed as pastor of the local Iglesia Reformada. Dianne found herself in this foreign country knowing only a few words of Spanish. After a week of grocery shopping accompanied by Norberto, she courageously decided that she would do her own shopping and learn Spanish while doing it. She also made it a point to try to speak a few words with the church members. On the first church service in Tandil, she was asked to accompany the hymns with the organ. She was a good pianist so she did. This became a pattern: she became the organist or pianist in all the churches that Norberto pastored in Argentina.
Dianne’s Spanish became fluent and it became a great asset to her during the twenty-four years of her stay in Argentina. Together, Dianne and Norberto, served in Tandil, where daughters Raquel and Laura were born; in Mar del Plata, where she founded the Denomination’s Sociedad de Damas (Women’s Society); in Buenos Aires, where Nick was born; in the suburb of Florida, where Rick was born; and finally in Comodoro Rivadavia, Norberto’s home town.
It was in Comodoro that Dianne’s voice found an opportunity to shine. A mezzo-soprano, her warm, rich, and soaring voice was discovered and it became admired and beloved in our city, where light opera productions were staged by the Lyric group in which both Norberto and Dianne were soloists.
Dianne, a loving woman under all circumstances, had to face a medical system years behind the U.S., a limited number of good friendships and little contact with English speakers, a year of 400 to 800% inflation, a three-days disappearance of her husband, temporarily kidnapped by the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina between 1976-1982, and the complicated financial situation of Argentina during 1982-1989, which finally led her family to accept an invitation to return to the U.S. in June 1990.
Arriving in the U.S., she had to face a cultural shock. Her mind, her habits, her way of doing things had changed and she found herself, at least for several months, a foreigner in her own land.
With the moral strength and the stronger faith she had gathered through her trials and joys in Argentina, she decided that she was being called to become a teacher of English as a Second Language. She enrolled in college at 47 years old. After registering for college, she expressed out loud, “I wonder whether my brain still works.” She need not have worried. Her grades were so good, that they put her high-school children under pressure.
She received her diploma of Teacher of English as a Second Language in 1995 from the University of Southern California at Dominguez Hills. After a short stint at the Downey Adult School, she became an established teacher at the Whittier Adult School. The 1995-2018 years were rich, rewarding years for her. She was doing what her Lord had inspired her to do. Her students loved her and sought her advice. Her colleagues not only respected her but also liked her as a person. In 2002 she won the prize as the Best Teacher in her school. Her work on school committees also excelled.
The years 1991-2019 were also rich for her faith. She loved Rosewood Church and its diversity. She enjoyed worship, Bible studies, book club, and the work at the food pantry. It was also a time of deep friendships within the context of a small group of couples with whom Dianne and Norberto had bonded over the years. In 2005 she survived a bout of breast cancer. She felt blessed to see her children married and to rejoice in the birth and growth of her grandchildren.
At the beginning of 2019, when she received a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, she and Norberto accepted that this may also be part of God’s plan. She entered an extended period of chemotherapy with acceptance and fortitude. Her faith became deeper and her love for her family grew in magnitude. The last few months were very difficult When she finally gave her last breath, her family and all who knew her were blessed to see the end of her suffering and thankful of her going to what she called “her home in glory” with the Lord she loved and served all her life. We, who love her, mourn her absence but not as those who have no faith.
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