Diane Celine Totty

"Diane Celine Totty (nee Kirkbride), a thirty year resident of Baton Rouge, and the founder of the popular Di's Grooming pet salon on Coursey Blvd, died Friday, August 19th at the St. James Place Healthcare Center. She had fought a humor-tinged, three year battle with lung cancer, where she was a cheery favorite of the medical staff and her chemotherapy compatriots. Diane was born in 1943 in Norwalk, Connecticut, and raised in the scenic Berkshire mill town of Housatonic, Massachusetts. Her parents had sturdy roots: her father Donald Kirkbride was a direct descendant of Canadian pioneers, and her mother Sadie Krzynowek was a first generation American of young Polish immigrants to Ellis Island. Graduating in 1960 from Williams High School in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Diane pursued a career of caregiving, working at psychiatric hospitals and receiving a nursing degree in 1964 from Fitchburg State College's Burbank Hospital School of Nursing. After her marriage in 1965 to the Yorkshireman Gordon Totty, Diane settled in the small town of Lunenburg, MA where she raised her two sons, her cat, and her beloved rescued Keeshond dog, Duchess. Diane was active in the community, serving as school nurse, a local http://www.legacy.com/memorial-sites/journalists/?personid=181135756&affiliateID=1382" target="_blank">reporter for the Fitchburg Sentinel newspaper, and key member of the PTA and local hospital charities. Diane relocated to Baton Rouge in 1987, where she continued serving others, working at Baum's bakery, volunteering in local community groups, and tending to animal causes. In 1998, in her mid-fifties, Diane bravely set out on her own to launch a new pet salon business, Di's Grooming, to provide personalized, compassionate, dedicated care for Baton Rouge area pets. Di's Grooming is still in operation, passed on to longtime employees. Diane had a hearty laugh, a sharp wit, and stubborn determination to avoid anything she found unpleasant. She loved travel (especially cruises), riverboat casinos, hearty cooking, detective mysteries, and a strong mimosa. Episodes of "Jessie Stone" and "NCIS" were playing on her TV until her last few days, and enjoyed by the nursing home staff. She leaves many close friends, colleagues and loyal customers. She was preceded in death by her mother Sadie Kirkbride (who died recently at the age of 96), and her father Donald Kirkbride. Diane is survived by her sister Ruth McCormick and husband Edward McCormick (both of Great Barrington, MA); son Brian Totty and wife Shernaz Daver (both of Los Altos, CA), son Jeffrey Totty of Berkeley Lake, GA; niece Kathleen McCormick of Housatonic, MA; nephew Matthew McCormick of Wilmington, NC; step-grandchildren Jai Padmakumar and Rohit Padmakumar; granddaughter Carina Totty; and Diane's dog Andre whom she took in to her care after the sudden passing of one of her customers. There will be no public memorial service, but gifts in Diane's honor may be made to her favorite animal rescue charity, the Companion Animal Alliance of Baton Rouge (https://www.classy.org/checkout/donation?eid=76294" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.classy.org/checkout/donation?eid=76294" target="_blank">https://www.classy.org/checkout/donation?eid=76294), or to the http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?iu=/423686928/prod/obit-aff/obit-standard/clio-inline-1&t=clio%3DALA%26cobrand%3Dtheadvocate%26linktext%3DAmerican%20Lung%20Association%26linkurl%3Dhttp%3A//action.lung.org/site/Donation2%3F10327.donation%3Dform1%26df_id%3D10327%26set.TributeType%3DMEMORIAL%26set.TributeFirstName%3DDiane%26set.TributeLastName%3DTotty%26set.TributeMessage%3DA+gift+has+been+made+in+remembrance+of+Diane+Totty%26utm_source%3DLegacy_CLIO%26utm_medium%3DWeb%26utm_campaign%3DGiveInMemory%26fn%3DDiane%26ln%3DTotty&sz=1x1&c=1763881483" target="_blank">American Lung Association.