Kathryn C. Diddel

Born on a farm in Wabasha, Minnesota, Mrs. Diddel was the youngest (and the last survivor) of six siblings. Always adventurous, she moved to Minneapolis after high school, completed a two year business program, and then moved to Washington, DC, during World War II, to serve in the offices of Gen. Omar Bradley. After the war, Mrs. Diddel moved to New York City, where she was a John Powers fashion model, and met the love of her life, Andrew G. Diddel. She married him in 1950 and adored him until the day she died. Mr. Diddel died in 2002.

While friends fled to the suburbs in the 1950s, the Diddels decided to raise their four children in New York City. They purchased an old brownstone in Manhattan that had long been used as a rooming house and was in serious disrepair. Mrs. Diddel gutted and renovated the home, virtually single-handedly. The Diddels created a magical environment in this home in which they, their children and a menagerie of animals thrived. Friends were always welcome and many a person who came to the house as a stranger left as a friend.

A home-maker for many years, Mrs. Diddel spent summers on Cape Cod with her children. She was very creative, with a finely honed artistic sensibility and strong work ethic, all of which proved useful when she renovated the 19th century family home on the Cape as well as their Manhattan home.

Known for her pixie-like sense of humor, Mrs. Diddel loved life right up to her final moments. She loved living in Manhattan and all that it offered - -great schools, theatre, movies, art, culture, and gourmet food (both cooking it and eating it); most of all, though, Mrs. Diddel cherished her family. She passed away, as she wanted to, at home, with family by her side.

Mrs. Diddel is survived by three of her children, Glenn Diddel and his wife Roberta, Scott Diddel and his wife Suzanne Michaud Diddel, and Heather Diddel and her husband Samuel House. Her youngest child, Katha Diddel Sussman, passed away in March 2014; Katha is survived by her husband David Sussman and their five children, Jane Sussman, Paul Warren, Rebecca Sussman, Thompson Warren, and Kiki Warren. Mrs. Diddel is also survived by her other grandchildren, Gregory Diddel, Andrew Diddel, Matthew Diddel, Emily Diddel House and Nathaniel Diddel House.

MEMORIAL SERVICE: A funeral mass will be held for Mrs. Diddel at St. Mary’s Church in Greenwich, CT on Friday, November 21st at 10:00 a.m. A memorial tribute and reception will be held in St. Mary’s Hitchcock Room at 12 noon that day. Her burial will be in Oak Grove Cemetery in Falmouth MA on Saturday, November 22. In lieu of flowers, the family requests a donation to the Katha Diddel and Warren Family Fund for Genome Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Donations may be made online http://mskcc.convio.net/goto/KathaDiddel or by mail to: Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Attn: India Laughlin, 633 3rd Avenue, 28th Floor, New York, NY 10017.