Diane Chanyan

It is with great sadness that we announce that our beloved mother, Diane Leong Chanyan, passed away peacefully on September 9, 2024. She lived to the ripe old age of 98, just two months shy of her 99th birthday.

Diane was born in Johannesburg, South Africa. She lived a full life - always active - mentally and physically. She raised six kids while working full-time in the family businesses in Port Elizabeth, where her twin sister Ivy was her lifelong companion. She played the piano at home, played the organ at church every Sunday, and did the flower arrangements for the church. She also enjoyed knitting, baking delicious cakes, and playing tennis and mah-jong with her friends.

She truly believed in the value of learning, encouraging all her children and grandchildren to keep studying, whether it was in school subjects, Chinese lessons, piano, violin, ballet – the list goes on. She set the example in her study of long Mandarin Chinese poems that she could recite without missing a beat, and in obtaining certificates in first aid, typing and shorthand. She was selfless in her commitment to ensure that her children and grandchildren got the best education the family could afford.

In her retirement years, one of her cherished “hobbies” was raising grandson Dominic for several years while his mom worked in another town.

A few years after her husband Wingson passed away, she remarried Manuel, moving to Vancouver, Canada in 2002. She took up lawn bowling and became quite the star player amongst the seniors! St Paul’s Parish also became an important part of her life. She learned how to use email, WhatsApp, FaceTime, etc. to keep in daily touch with her beloved family overseas. Diane and Manuel moved to the stylish Wisteria Place in 2022, where they made many new friends.

She was predeceased by her first husband Wingson, sisters Ellen, Amy, Lily, Ivy, and Rose, brother Henry, son Danny, daughter-in-law Desere, and grandchildren Stephanie and Adrian.

She will be dearly missed by her husband Manuel, siblings Dennis, Kenneth, and Pearl, children Colin (Alison), Jolin (Irma), Melvin (Tracy), Kevin, and Cherry (Per), grandchildren Jason, Dominic (Carmen), Robbie, Jasmine, Rachel, and Nicholas, great-grandchildren Nicolas and Anita, and stepfamily Cliff, Lorna, Brian, Laura, and Stella.

We will miss her sense of humour, her selflessness, her cherished stories, and most of all, her guiding presence in our lives. Her legacy will be the strong extended family ties stemming from her incredibly close bonds with her siblings.

Funeral Mass: September 25, 2024, at 11 a.m. (PST)

Location: St. Paul’s Parish, 8251 St. Albans Rd, Richmond, BC Canada

Viewing: 10 a.m. onwards

Join via Zoom (Mass): Meeting ID 817 683 5305, Passcode 4mNHSK

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of Diane to the Catholic Charities at https://support.rcav.org/catholic-charities/ or to the Hong Ning Old Age Home in South Africa at https://hongning.org.za/how-you-can-help-donate-financially/. Outside of South Africa, donations to Hong Ning can be made by credit card at https://in-loving-memory-tribute-pages.raiselysite.com/dianechanyan