Feb. 22, 1945 - June 11, 2021
Passed away at Abbotsford Regional Hospital surrounded by her family. Diane is predeceased by her parents James and Margaret Munro and younger brother Jimmy. She is survived by her husband of 49 years, Gary and will forever be cherished by her four children Stephen, Christine (Michael), Megan (Shane), and Julie (Juston), her 2 step-children Doris (Todd) and David (Carol) as well as her grand- children Lauren, Braeden, Joshua, Blake, Kaylee, Emma, Alisha, Ryan and Samantha. She will also be dearly missed by her sister Judy Anderson (Kent), and John Munro (Cathy), as well as many nieces and nephews.
Diane grew up in North Vancouver, B.C. and also spent much of her childhood near Prince Rupert, B.C. along the Skeena River where her mother and sister would join dad James where he was a manager for the North Pacific Cannery. She would attend school part of the year in a one room schoolhouse until returning back to North Vancouver after fishing season. This continued for a number of years until Diane’s twin brothers were born and time only permitted summer adventures there.
After high school, Diane returned to Prince Rupert to work as a book keeper and then on to Williams Lake as a care aid until 1970. Meeting her future husband through her sister Judy and Gary’s brother Kent’s wedding preparations and subsequent marriage sealed the deal for Diane to return to the Lower Mainland.
The first of four children, Stephen arrived in September 1971 and Diane and Gary quickly realized a one bedroom apartment in North Vancouver wasn’t ideal so purchased their first home in “the boonies” of Port Coquitlam, B.C. Her second child, Christine was born in February 1974 and soon after, Diane started her quest to move closer to North Vancouver. She got her wish in July 1979 when the family moved to their long term home in central Coquitlam. It turned out to be an ideal location having a pool in the back yard and park behind the house-especially since she was expecting twins a year later. “The twins” Megan and Julie arrived in October 1980-four weeks after finding out she was having not one but two girls! Good thing mom was industrious because she had everything sorted just about in time.
Diane was a very dedicated and involved Mother. She was a coordinator extraordinaire especially when Gary was off on another business trip, she always managed to have dinner ready for whomever had an activity on any given day and would either get her kids to their designated activity or have something arranged. She loved her social time spent at the dance studio where Christine attended and remained friends with many of the other moms long after her daughter’s dance days were over. Not to mention all of her hours spent managing soccer, scoring for softball games or simply being a spectator-she loved it all and was such a proud mom.
In her later years, Diane and Gary retired to Kelowna, B.C. from 2005-2008 and after that, settled in Langley, B.C. until the time of her passing.
Diane will always be remembered as a kind, gentle, mild mannered but strong, and nurturing person. Despite all of the adversity she faced, she always kept a brave face and was proud. We will never forget her sense of humour nor her laugh.
Though we will never have another chance to talk over the phone, we leave you with her infamous calling card: “I will love you and leave you.”
Memorial to be held at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, July 14, 2021.
*In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the charity of your choice.
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