Diane Mensch

Diane was born in Boston, MA to Charles Milton Mensch and Eleanor Folsom Carr. When she was seven years old, the family moved to Tucson, Arizona. She graduated from Tucson high School, attended the University of Arizona and was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta 1960. She got her Master’s Degree in English from the University of Arizona in 1963. She saw an ad for a position as an English Teacher in Coronado, California and taught at Coronado High School from 1964 to 1998 (32 years) except for 2 years working as a Secretary for the Salk Institute between 1970 and 1972. In high school and college, she played cornet in the Band. She was always active in music. She played cornet-accordion duets with her sister Gretchen until recently. She joined the San Diego Folk Song Society in the spring of 1987 with her husband Emmanuel. She played autoharp and sang; Emmanuel played recorders and mandolin. Upon her retirement in June 1998, she went back to playing jazz cornet. She cofounded the Paragon Jazz Band and was leader of the group. She also played in the San Diego Banjo Band and Coronado Community Band. She was a California Notary Public since August 2008. She was an avid cyclist, hiker, skier, tennis player and also did scuba diving, kayaking and hang gliding. She was a lifetime member of the Sierra Club. She passed away as a result of a long illness. She is survived by her husband, Emmanuel Pierreuse, of Coronado, her sister, Gretchen Mensch-Betz of Medford, NJ. She is missed by Emmanuel’s family, her family in France.