August 1, 1948 – November 17, 2024
The family wish to announce the peaceful passing of Diane Lea at Health Sciences North in Sudbury on November 17, 2024 at the age of 76. She is survived by her son, Braeden of Toronto and her step-son, Lyndon (Sophie) of The Bahamas. Dear grandmother of William, George, Mary-Ellen, Breanna, Chiara, Zack, Sylvie and Zaydon. Great grandmother of Daniel and Reegan. She is also survived by her siblings: Brian of Elliot Lake, Murray (Rudeekarn “Pom” Thaisomboon) of Elliot Lake and Alan (Dianne) of Elliot Lake. Additionally, she is survived by numerous nephews and nieces as well as great nephews and great nieces. Diane will be sorely missed by her loyal four-legged companion, Patch and his two side-kicks Torchy and Cally.
Diane was born in Matheson and moved to Elliot Lake in 1963 with her parents Ralph and Ida, both by whom she was pre-deceased. Diane graduated from Elliot Lake Secondary School before successfully attending Wellesley Hospital School of Nursing. She worked as a registered nurse in both South Africa and Toronto before returning to Elliot Lake where she settled. She worked at St. Joseph’s General Hospital in Elliot Lake before being forced into disability retirement by an extremely aggressive form of rheumatoid arthritis. Diane will be most remembered for her compassion and kindness to all. She was the centre of our family, knowing what was going on in everyone’s lives, never missing a birthday and always being available to lend a helping hand. She had an ear for listening which was widely taken advantage of by all. Never did we realize how much we’d miss the lengthy updates and plant by plant description of the most recent developments in her garden on Valley Crescent!
A service to celebrate Diane’s life will be held on Friday, November 22, 2024 at 3pm from the Moose Lodge, Elliot Lake. Reverend Cory Vermeer-Cuthbert will be officiating. Her ashes will be interned at Woodland Cemetery, Elliot Lake on Saturday, November 23 at 10am.
The family would like to thank the staff at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Elliot Lake as well as the nurses and doctors in the ICU at Health Sciences North in Sudbury for the outstanding and compassionate care. Memorial contributions to the Arthritis Society Canada (www.arthritis.ca) would be appreciated by the family. Expressions of sympathy to the family may be made at www.elliotlakefuneralchapel.com