One More Tribute

The Memorial was lovely, moving, and really hard. There are pictures of the tree planting, but I'm not ready to go over them yet.

Here's the article that ran in the Gazette on Saturday. It didn't run in the online edition, so it doesn't google.

‘The magic of Diana’

Former I.C. teacher blogged about her battle with lung cancer
By Erika Binegar
The Gazette
IOWA CITY — Those who knew Diana Paulina, 61, of Iowa City, remembered her this week as a dedicated teacher and witty word game enthusiast who enjoyed making things beautiful and never had to raise her voice to be heard.

“Diana had a real presence,” said her husband, Kevin Crawley. “She’s the kind of person you meet and you just know right away that this is a pretty extraordinary person.”

Her brother, Carl Paulina, agreed. “That was the magic of Diana,” he said.

Paulina died peacefully April 28 after 14 months battling lung cancer. She blogged much of the experience to keep her family and friends up to date, and knitted about a dozen “chemo caps” in canary yellow, turquoise and bright red yarn Crawley, 52, of Iowa City, said his wife was an amazing person who inspired others. Paulina, who loved teaching, reading, music, crafts and gardening, believed there was no such thing as a bad pun, Crawley added with a laugh.

Carl Paulina, 58, of Ann Arbor, Mich., said his older sister taught him to dance, was extremely quick in conversation, didn’t turn away people in need and never shied from responsibility.

“When she was really young, she was already sitting at the grown-up table,” he said.

Paulina, who was raised in Dearborn, Mich., earned her graduate degree in alternative education from Indiana University.

In 1980, Paulina and Crawley founded Unbound Inc., a residential counseling center for people leaving cults. For 10 years, they helped those individuals make sense of what had happened to them and helped them reconnect with family.

From 1984 to 1998, Paulina was a language arts, reading and “school of hard knocks” teacher at the Iowa City alternative high school, CEC.

Paulina didn’t agree with traditional schooling, or shuffling students from one class to another at the sound of a bell, Crawley said. “She always thought it was more about turning people on to education, showing them that they could learn,” he said.

Paulina would read to her students in the morning and let them create art inspired by that story in the afternoon. She took students bowling on Friday afternoons and taught them to keep score — sneaking math lessons in through the back door.

In 1999, Paulina, an organizer, became general manager of Avalon Networks — the first private Internet service provider in Iowa City — and helped tighten up the business, Crawley said.

In 2003, Paulina, her parents and Crawley began running Da Woods Bed and Breakfast out of two houses tucked into the woods on the north side of Iowa City. It was something she could do while taking care of her parents at home, Crawley said.

Because Paulina believed dessert wasn’t just for dessert, her guests were treated to homemade scones and cream puffs for breakfast. A memorial celebration is scheduled at 1 p.m. today at Da Woods Bed and Breakfast, 2030 and 2040 Dubuque Rd.

Gazette writer Stephen Schmidt contributed to this report.
Contact the writer: (319) 398-8255