Diann Messman

DiAnn Messman passed away on September 17, 2024 at the age of 80, and the world now has a whole lot less love in it. She poured love out into the world, everyone was deserving of her warm smile and a kind word. DiAnn lived her life in service to others as a dedicated mother, adored grandmother, cherished friend and life-long educator.

If DiAnn could be summed up in a single word it would be optimistic. She wasn’t a glass-half-full kind of gal, she was a glass-overflowing kind of gal. Confined to a wheelchair for the last 20-plus years of her life, you rarely saw her without a smile. Happy and positive was the face she put on each and every day, and she brought that happiness and positivity to all she met. You were going to leave her knowing you were loved, you were special, you mattered.

She was a lot of things, but quiet wasn’t one of them. Being a school teacher, her voice carried all the way to the back row and then some. Her children were never lost, in a store they could hear her from three aisles over talking to a neighbor or laughing with a friend.

The hundreds of 3rd graders who passed through her room over her 30-plus years of teaching were some awfully lucky kids. She was tough and strict and gave lots of hugs. She always said “I start off the school year mean. I can always get nice later, but it’s a whole lot harder to start off nice and then get mean.” She expected her class to behave and she made sure they knew that. She also made sure they knew they were loved. She filled out free lunch forms for those whose parents wouldn’t. She made sure she always had snacks for those who didn’t. No kid went hungry at school in her class. She rigged the PTA raffle so the kid without a bike won the bike raffle. And her students returned, year after year, to tell her how much she meant to them.

She loved singing, sewing, square dancing, and crafting. She was a wonderful cook, man could she fry up a chicken. Some would say she was a pack rat, others would say she found a use for everything. Point is she kept it all - from a scrap of ribbon to a square of fabric to an empty Pringles can. She was confident she would need it sometime and should hang on to it. 

Her proudest achievement was her 3 children – Justin Seely, Sara Ross and Jeff Seely and her 5 grandchildren – Harper (17), Darby (13), Paige (12), Cole (9) and Ashley (29). 

DiAnn didn’t just care for her own children and grandchildren. She was always quick to take in anyone under her wing in need of a motherly figure, from the latchkey kid across the street whose parents worked late and dined with us most evenings to every roommate and person in need of care at her nursing home. DiAnn thrived when caring for others.

Although we can no longer call or visit DiAnn, we believe she has left an indelible mark on all of us lucky enough to have known her. She would want all of us to remember her with a smile rather than with tears, to share stories and laugh out loud and to remember to put a little more love out into the world.

Friends can visit with DiAnn’s family at the Lucas Funeral Home on Sunday, October 13, at 1 pm. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in DiAnn’s name to an education foundation at a school.