Anita Joyce Diehl

Anita Joyce (Shannon) Diehl passed away on Tuesday April 8 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis surrounded by her family. A memorial service will be held at 2:00 on Sunday April 12 at St Peter’s Episcopal Church in Osterville, MA. An internment ceremony will be held later this spring at Memorial Park Cemetery in Dayton, OH.

Joyce is survived by her husband of 63 years Clark Diehl of Centerville; daughter Emily Deluca and husband David; son Bryan and wife Kathy; daughter Amy Walsh and husband Dan; son Bruce and wife Debony; seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

She was born in Dayton Ohio at St. Elizabeth Hospital on May 26, 1931 and was the second child born to Zella (Ott) and Kenneth Shannon of Dayton Ohio and formerly of Wartburg, Tennessee.

Joyce preferred to use her middle name, though at a young age several teachers took exception to calling her anything other than Anita. She attended E. J. Brown School and later went on to Col. White Junior High School. She went on to her Junior and Sr. years at Fairview High School, graduating in 1949. She was very active in sports, school clubs and was very, very popular with the “boys”. She met her husband to be while in her junior year and went with him to his senior prom. By this time, they were madly in love and became wonderful examples of what a loving marriage could be.

Joyce worked in Dayton at the Bell Telephone Company as an operator and loved the work. She later worked at the Western Auto Stores, and Sears. Following marriage to Clark (Eddie), she returned to Dayton and worked for several firms in telephone work. These were by far her favorite jobs and she made lots of friends.

After numerous family moves, she was tending to her four children Emily, Bryan, Amy and Bruce. While living in Sudbury, MA, near Boston, she became a member of PEO, a women’s organization. During this time, she started providing bed and breakfast accommodations for other PEO members from around the country when they would visit the Boston area. She found great joy and reward in this and was able to make significant contributions to her PEO chapter as a result. The pleasure of meeting and dealing with each guest was special and lead to her and Clark’s decision to move to Cape Cod and open a Bed and Breakfast Inn. In 1985, she opened the Copper Beech Inn, which she operated for 13 years. She also was a big help to Clark in operating Bed and Breakfast Cape Cod, a bed and breakfast reservation service. She continued running the inn until 1997 when health issues prevented her from continuing.

Joyce has been very active in PEO through the years and was a founding member of a chapter in Centerville, at one time serving as the chapters’ president. She and Clark loved playing in a couple’s bridge group. Throughout her life, Joyce’s attention to detail in the care and decoration of her homes has been a marvel to many and featured in Country Magazine in the early ‘90’s. Joyce never met a stranger and was known for her acceptance of all people and her intolerance of those who judged people based on race, ethnicity, religious beliefs and sexual preferences. All were children of God in her eyes.

Her children and family have always been her first priority. She has been a role model to them in so many regards and will be dearly missed by all. Rest in peace, dearest wife, mother and friend.

Donations in lieu of flowers can be sent to:

P.E.O. Foundation

3700 Grand Ave

Des Moines, IA 50312