Obituary of DIANNE LOUISE ARNOTT

We are sorry to inform you that Dianne passed away Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at Winnipeg’s Grace Hospital.  Dianne was experiencing severe breathing difficulties on the morning of August 6^th and although her condition improved, we were advised by ACCESS Fort Garry to get her to the hospital.  Thanks to the efforts of ER and 3N medical staff, Dianne seemed on the road to recovery and we were all so hopeful.  Unfortunately, her condition began to deteriorate on the 18^th and in the early hours of the 19^th we were informed that she had been moved to the ICU.

Dianne was born at the Old Grace Hospital, February 12, 1943, and spent her first year in Winnipeg before she and her parents, Bruce and Frances (Cranwell), returned to Roblin, Manitoba, their hometown.  Dianne often spoke fondly of the hours spent there with her grandparents and of “the house at the top of the hill”.  In 1950 the family, now including her brother, David, relocated to Brandon; 1955 saw a move to the Silver Heights Apartments in St. James;  1960 to a house on Overdale Street where Dianne lived until her 1965 marriage.

Almost half of her unmarried life in Winnipeg was at the Silver Heights location which was instrumental in her mother deciding she had to get Dianne into St Mary's Academy.  This mystery shall go unexplained, but Dianne did attend St. Mary’s Academy for grades seven to eleven – an experience she seems to have enjoyed - and in recent years she attended one or two class reunions.  She then headed to the University of Manitoba.  Within a few years, 1966, she was teaching Social Studies (“In a mini-skirt,” she says) at John Henderson Junior High School.  While there, she helped to establish a student film club.

In 1972, Dianne and her husband moved to Thompson, Manitoba.  The following year, their daughter, Rebecca, was born and, two years later their son, David, came along.  Dianne took up pottery, honing her skills, selling her creations, and becoming active in Thompson’s artistic community.

Returning to Winnipeg in 1986, Dianne rented a small suite in Osborne Village and began working as Dufferin School’s librarian (where she and Peter first met and exchanged a few words). She supplemented a half-time teaching income by waiting tables in a Corydon Ave. restaurant.  And if this wasn’t enough to do, she also attended the U of M, taking courses to enhance knowledge and skills relating to her role as a teacher-librarian.

Rebecca joined her mother in Winnipeg in 1987 and David joined them the following year.  By then, mother and daughter were living in the newly purchased Mulvey Ave. house.

By 1989, Dianne was working full-time in William Whyte Community School’s library.  It was here she and Peter met again, began working together, almost daily going for lunch at Mom’s or The Windmill, and founding a friendship that has endured to this day.  Later, they shared many a Friday night at Papa George’s, talking well into the evening.

After Peter left William Whyte in June 1993, Dianne and he continued to meet.  Over time, their relationship morphed into something new.  In the late nineties, he was living almost full-time at her place.  Then, with the birth of Inge, Dianne became a grandmother.  Wanting Rebecca and her family to have a house of their own, she moved out of the home she loved and in with Peter.

About 2000, Dianne became Wellington School’s teacher-librarian.  While there she came up with an idea to recreate little pieces of the boreal forest in the quadrangles outside the east and west doors of the school and in an inaccessible, because enclosed by a locked fence, grassy area extending the full width of the school and for a number of metres south on each side of the building.  It was an ambitious plan to take the classroom outside, to help children learn by doing, and to improve the environment.  It was time-consuming and successful because of the effort she put in, even going so far as having her son, David, drive her north to Thompson in order to collect appropriate plants.

Following her retirement in June 2006, Dianne returned to pottery, taking classes with Roland Bouchard at the Fort Rouge Leisure Centre.  It gave her great joy and she was so pleased to throw, again, and she so enjoyed the other students that the gang often went out for supper.  These gatherings and the friendships continued long after Dianne was no longer able to use the wheel.

Retirement enabled Dianne to spend more time in the garden attempting to fill the front yard with indigenous plants, food for monarch butterflies and their progeny, and creating a tiny habitat welcoming to birds and other small creatures.  For a number of years, she bowled in a five-pin league, and rode her bicycle into her seventies.

Peter’s daughters took to calling her “Mom” or “Mama Dianne”, she became “Grandma” to their kids, and then “Great-grandma” to the newest generation.  Her friends, acquaintances, and family, in cards and notes received since August 20^th, wrote that “Dianne was such an intelligent, gracious and caring person who made a great difference to so many lives”, “…she was a wonderful lady…”, “She was so fun!”, and “In the early years she was always the cousin I looked up to…outgoing, full of life and big ideas, and a terrible tease”.

Dianne was so loving and is so loved.  The hole is gigantic.  The conversations about books, world events, plant care, and so many other subjects are now conducted in silence and are very one-sided.  There aren’t any responses to the “Did you knows?” or the “Do you knows?”  Where’s the laughter?  When was the last time there were hugs?

Dianne did not want a memorial service and we have respected her wishes.  The family will be getting together in late October at a restaurant Dianne liked to attend.  We’ll try to laugh, to eschew tears, and to celebrate a wonderful woman who gave all of us so much love.

Finally, we’d like to thank the Grace’s Dr. Orlikow (3N), Dr. Kumar and RN Karen (ICU), and all the other medical and non-medical staff whose names we never knew or, regretfully, have forgotten, who took such good care of Dianne during her last two weeks.

We love you, Dianne!  Thank you so much!