Diana Paulina died peacefully Monday morning, after fourteen months of intense negotiations with lung cancer.
A memorial celebration will be held from 1 pm to whenever next Saturday, May 10 in da Woods at 2030 and 2040 Dubuque Road. A tree will be planted at 3 pm, with the potluck wake going quite a bit longer. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be directed to the Emma Goldman Clinic.
Diana was born and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, and received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan in 1969. She spent five years in Europe, taking courses in what her father would call 'the school of hard knocks,' and then enrolled in the Alternative Education graduate program at Indiana University. After a brief stint at a one-room alternative school in central Iowa she moved to Iowa City to complete her Master's coursework.
In 1980, she co-founded and co-directed Unbound, Inc, a residential counseling center for people leaving cults. She was a language arts, reading and school of hardknocks teacher at the Iowa City alternative school, CEC, from 1984 to 1998. She also served variously as librarian, volleyball and softball coach, drama instructor, videographer, prom coordinator, banker, computer teacher and troubleshooter, assistant janitor and political agitator. She was an active member of the Iowa City Education Association, serving as both Vice-President and President. In 1999, she took a position with Avalon Networks. She retired from there in 2003 to care for her parents and to open da Woods Bed and Breakfast.
She was diagnosed with cancer in 2007, and she blogged much of the experience. Friends are invited to kevin-and-diana.blogspot.com for the gory details.
She loved wordplay, reading, music, gardening, puzzles, crafts, learning and teaching. She was also pretty fond of her cohort of thirty years, Kevin Crawley. Diana approached everything she did with passion and determination, and she served as a role model, inspiration and font of wit and wisdom to her students, friends and family.
She is survived by her husband and her mother, Marie Paulina, both of Iowa City, her brother Carl Paulina, of Ann Arbor, MI, her sister Susan Johnson of Osceola, WI, as well as sixteen brothers-and-sisters-in-law, twenty-two nieces and nephews and a host of friends she called her 'Iowa City family.' She is preceded by her father, Walter "Shorty" Paulina.
8 comments:
Beautiful, Kevin!
Well did.
I'll beat my sisters to it, nice.
Katie
From the "she'll send you a sign when you least expect it" department: I was visiting my parents early this morning and having breakfast with them looking out over their deck. They have many bird feeders and consult their bird books when they see an unfamiliar species. It was a beautiful, crisp, sunny morning, and they had just asked how Kevin was doing when we saw 4 beautiful little guys with bright red breasts flitting and eating. (I'll be darned if I remember what they were.) Thanks, DP! Thought of you and grinned....
Tim (Katie's husband)
Beautiful, I could just feel her presence in the writing, I cried, and laughed. She was a beautiful person, inside and out, and she helped to mold who I am today.
Kevin - It's perfect.
This week a co-worker sent me an e-card to let me know her thoughts were with us. It was a Jacquie Lawson card, which we have all received from dp. Who would have thought that one of my signs came right into my in-box - they really are everywhere we take the time to look.
Ann
Well said brother.
Would Carl like a ride out on the 9th?
inspiring,joyous,sorrowful
Hannah
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