Diane died on April 8, 2016 of lung cancer that had metastisized to her liver and her brain.  There are many remarkable moments found in the last fifteen months of her life.  Diagnosing her correctly was a challenge in the fall of 2014 - initially her symptoms presented as a strange kind of stroke, and it took a talented neurosurgeon to realize they needed to look beyond the brain to explain her symptoms.  She received a diagnosis of stage 4 lung cancer in mid-November 2014 and given her advanced symptoms was told she had weeks to live.  Everyone was stunned given that Diane never smoked, had no symptoms prior to her headaches and took impeccable care of herself.  Her particular cancer type, though, had a cell marker that made her eligible for a new type of chemotherapeutic.  This treatment, along with a shunt that relieved the pressure on her brain, allowed Diane to recover most of her cognitive capacity.  She recovered enough to travel to the east coast, both in the spring and for Christmas at Vicki's house.  And she and Harry had even more adventures on the Oregon coast and she even got back to the gym.  Cancer cells eventually learn to evade chemotherapeutics, and in late 2015 it was clear that Diane's cancer had returned.  During these last months, so many friends, acquaintances and talented caregivers helped Harry as he cared for Diane at their home.  In the early morning of Friday, April 8 after a long struggle, Diane died at Virginia Mason in Seattle with Harry and her dear friend Martha Fox by her side.   

Diane had so many hobbies that filled her life.  When they were younger, Harry and Diane were mountaineers and she was skilled on a rope team and handling an ice axe.  Later when they lived in Juneau they bought a fishing boat, which was quickly followed by their dear sailboat Diva.  Southeast Alaska offered ideal crusing for Diva, and Harry and Diane for many years would take her down the inside passage of Canada.  Later when they moved to Bainbridge Island, Diva continued to figure in their weekend activities.  They even made the cover of Crusing World! (see picture).  Harry is an avid gardener and Diane was his close partner in picking, cooking and preserving the amazing vegetables they grew.  Their spicy pickled green beans were especially coveted by friends.  Harry and Diane were also avid backpackers with the Olympics as their favorite playground.  As they got older they acquired a camper which they took on cross-country trips in the summer.  Both loved biking and (in typical fashion) they didn't just take leisurely rides on the weekend, but rather trained and competed in the 2010 senior olympics.  They both discovered amateur astronomy together.  They supported the bainbridge island astronomical association and served as volunteer rangers in Bryce National Park for several months.  In all of their adventures together, Harry and Diane never did anything halfway.

Diane and Harry took a number of amazing trips during their time together.  They understood that they worked to live and didn't live to work.  One of their first big trips was trekking in Nepal.  After this intense adventure they flew back through Switzerland where they spent time in the Alps.  As Diane noted, she didn't think there were two more different cultures with respect to bathroom conditions.  In 1991 Harry and Diane visited New Zealand and chartered a boat which they sailed to Fiji (a five day trip on open ocean).  They both loved Japan and in 2006 finally got to visit for a month.  They had many trips to Europe, the last one in 2011.  Diane especially liked to travel without formal plans.  She and my dad enjoyed arriving in a new city without a place to stay and then asking the locals for recommendations.  Their last trip together was an east coast trip in spring 2015 to Providence (where Vicki lives), New York City and Washington DC.  Diane so enjoyed showing my Dad around the capital where she had worked almost fifty years earlier.  And of course (see picture) they both enjoyed the museums.     

After receiving her JD in 1974, she relocated to Portland Oregon where she worked for the Center for State Courts in Vancouver Washington.  During that time she merged her skills as a research librarian with her new legal degree and wrote  a number of briefs on major legal topics.  Some titles include "Medical Use of Marijuana" and the "Cost of Capital Punishment Defense".  Later she bacame a prosecuting attorney before she moved on to a job in the attorney general's office in Juneau, Alaska in 1980.  She started there as a section head specializing in corporate taxes and hired Martha Fox in 1982 as a lawyer.  Martha describes that Diane basically made sure the oil and gas corporations paid what they owed to the state of alaska.  Diane also became an expert on the highly technical issues surrounding multi-state taxation.  Martha, who became one of Diane's dear friends, reports that Diane was a good boss - "Calm and even tempered".  

After several years in the AG office in Juneau, the state of alaska opened an office in Seattle to handle the increasingly important and complex multi-state tax issues.  She and Harry moved down to Seattle in 1988 so she could be part of this operation. Soon she became an administrarive law judge for the state of alaska and oversaw enforcement actions brought by the state against corporations.  She held her position as an administrative law judge for the next ten years.

Not long after Diane started her job in Colorado Springs, she met Harry at a party at her apartment complex.  He remembers being smitten immediately, and asked a friend about her who told him she was new in town.  Their first date was a memorable one, mainly because Harry was pulled over for speeding in his green camaro.  After that he was relentless in his pursuit of Diane and eventually convinced her to date him.  After about four months, she followed him to University of Wisconsin where he had a post-doctoral position in microbiology.  They were married in 1971 in Madison soon after they arrived.  Raised a catholic, Diane chose to get married in an Episcopalian church with her parents in attendance.

Diane received her undergraduate degree from the University of Iowa and became a librarian.  She landed a coveted job as a research librarian at the library of congress soon after graduation and so enjoyed her time in that city.  Almost fifty years later she was able to show Harry around the capital and reminsce about her time there.  A few years later she accepted a job as a research librarian In Colordao Springs at the airforce academy.  During that time she decided to pursue a law degree and eventually got her JD from the University of Wisconsin in 1974. 

Diane was born in Sibley, Iowa on January 15, 1944.  She was the second child of Lucile (or Lue) and Frank Tremmel.  Her parents were german catholics who owned a farm.  She remembered her childhood with fondness - lots of snow, lots of farm chores, and playing with her older brother David.  Her childhood helped form Diane's love of open spaces and nature, as well her intense work ethic.