Dianna Mae Wiese

Dianna Mae Wiese, 81, of Eldridge, Iowa, who loved nothing more than gathering around a board game with her grandchildren, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family at home.

She was born in Davenport, Iowa, in 1943, to Viola Marie and Leroy William LaGrange. After losing her dad to an illness when she was three, she was doted on by her mother and older siblings gaining her nickname Babe. Dianna’s favorite childhood memories include receiving book gifts from her mom, playing baseball in the street, walking to Sacred Heart Cathedral for mass, and going sledding at the elementary school where she watched her brother sled under a moving bus!

Dianna graduated in 1962 from Central High School. She started working at J.I. Case and enjoyed going to the Coliseum for live music and dancing with friends on the weekends. Dianna met the love of her life, Merle, on a blind date in 1964, when he was on leave from the Marines. They wrote each other love letters until he returned from Vietnam in 1966, and were married in 1967. They honeymooned at Mt. Rushmore before settling down in Donahue, Iowa with their farm cats and dog.

Dianna happily left the workforce after they started their family and loved attending ball games, boy scout and blue bird events, 4-H events, school plays, and band concerts. In the 1980s, she went to work at Crescent Baking Company. After the company closed, she attended AIC, and the data entry certificate she earned led her to work at a private insurance company and then Iowa Childcare Resource and Referral where she served as ‘the candy lady’ until her retirement in 2009. While she enjoyed the work she performed, she truly treasured the friends she made and stayed in touch and talked about them often.

After Dianna retired, she and Merle enjoyed meeting their siblings and old friends at local town festivals and traveling to visit their kids and grandkids, including a trip to Graceland. Dianna was also grateful to be able to see an Oprah show with special work friends. Though she enjoyed being a mom, wife and working outside the home, nothing compared to the role of being grandma. More so, her face lit up when she was able to meet the great-grandchildren.

Dianna and her school friends Karen and Bonnie shared years of celebrating birthdays, holidays, and growing families, and helped each other through difficult times, too.

Everyone who knew Dianna knew how much she enjoyed listening to, singing to and dancing to Elvis. She also enjoyed eating chocolate and doing crossword puzzles.

Dianna will always be remembered for how much she loved being with her kids and grandchildren. We’ll remember how much she enjoyed celebrating Christmas, the start of spring and cheering on the Cubs. She was our cheerleader, sounding-board, and prayer-warrior and we couldn’t have asked for a better wife/mom/grandmother/friend and will miss Dianna every day.

Dianna was preceded in death by her parents, sister Janet, and her brother John and is survived by her husband Merle, children Lisa (Richard), William (Sara), and Timothy, grandchildren Joshua, Sara, Addylen, Evelyen, Gunner, Grace, Rosie, and Mason, and great-grandchildren.

The visitation is at 9:00am on Tuesday, September 23rd at Runge Mortuary and Crematory. The funeral service will be immediately afterwards at 10:00 am, with burial at Allen’s Grove Cemetery.