Diane Hannah Elmeer

Diane Hannah Elmeer, daughter of Sixten and Diane Siyufy Elmeer, died Wednesday, August 20th, after complications with Rheumatoid Arthritis. She was 84. Diane had been residing at a rehabilitation center in Tampa, Florida since July of 2024 after leaving her beloved Seminole Heights neighborhood where she exchanged daily greetings with fellow dogwalkers.

Diane had been involved in the arts since she was a teenager, building and painting sets for her Jamestown High School’s theater productions. After graduating from The State University of New York in 1963, Diane moved to Tampa, Florida where she taught in the public school system for ten years. While in the public school system, she worried her administrators by scheduling field trips for her art students to the beach. She believed the students needed to experience nature’s inspirational beauty.

Her belief in education as a path to betterment led her to study art at the The School of Art and Art History at the University of South Florida where she became an integral part of USF’s fine arts community, receiving an MFA degree in 1976. Diane returned to USF in 1978 as an instructor and administrator until 2003 where she taught classes in studio art and contemporary art theory. During her tenure at USF, Diane continued her practice as a painter. The friendships formed with her fellow administrators, instructors, artists, and students gave her a sense of purpose and belonging.

Diane was never one to give up on love; and happily, in 2001, Diane married fellow artist John Catteral (her third husband) at a ceremony in Val Gardena, Italy. Diane and John spent many summers in Story, Wyoming, introducing the beauty of the Wyoming landscapes to their grandchildren and making its scenery central to their art work. When John passed in 2023, Diane continued to find comfort in her art, family, and friends. Diane was a narrative artist who studied the natural landscapes of the earth and body to tell a story of decay and regeneration. From eye operations to studying her own scars, she was never one to look away due to her intellectual curiosity and belief in the resilience of the human spirit. She had a tremendous work ethic, and made thousands of paintings in her lifetime while working a full time job until retirement.

Like John Lennon, Diane imagined “all the people living life in peace,” and she loved travelling the world - from Italy - to Australia - to China where she once sang “We are the World” with new found friends of different ethnicities in a restaurant. This was one of her favorite memories, for she loved bringing people together. Diane missed her brothers, Terrance, Ricky, and Phillip, who preceded her in death.

Diane is survived by her dog, Cappy, her daughter Stacey Elmeer (Derek Pagan) and grandchildren Amelia Pagan and Alonso Pagan of Fort Myers, and son Sean Pascoe (Christy Pascoe) and grandchildren Zachary Pascoe and Saylor Pascoe. She is also survived by her nieces: Terry Anne Short of Zephyrhills, FL; Tammy Campbell of Maui, HI ; Christine Morris of Ft. Lauderdale, FL; and Amanda Prouty of Maui, HI. When they were young, she referred to her children as her greatest works of art, and she loved her family above all else, imparting her love for the arts, cooking, and travel to them. A fiery, passionate spirit who loved to laugh and dance and converse and read, Diane felt grateful and joyful for all those she loved. A “Celebration of Life” memorial service will be held in Tampa on the 6th of September at 4 p.m.