Diane G. Gillen

Diane G. Gillen, age 77, died suddenly on Tuesday, August 25, 2020 after a long and courageous battle with leukemia, with her beloved husband of 56 years by her side.  She was born in Detroit in September 1942.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Selma Chait.  She is survived by her husband, Ken; her daughters, Jennifer and Jill; sons in-law, Pete and Joe; grandchildren, Julia (22), Ben (19), Jack (9), and Selma (4); her sister, Linda and husband, David Dullman; as well as numerous other relatives and countless friends.

Her husband, Ken, feels truly blessed that he could share 56 years with such a wonderful loving and gifted person.  Although they both grew up about 5 miles apart in Southern California, they did not meet until their senior year at UC Berkeley in 1964.  According to both of them on their first date, Diane was immediately impressed that Ken, a serious science major, was able to woo her, by reciting several famous poems by American authors by heart that he was required to memorize as a senior in high school four years earlier.  For their second date, they attended a Sammy Davis, Jr. concert in Lake Tahoe.

They married shortly after graduating from Berkeley (Diane as a Phi Beta Kappa) and spent their first year together traveling throughout Europe.  The next year they moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where Diane was a graduate teaching assistant, and an intern high school teacher, and Ken obtained his PhD in Chemistry.  This is where their beloved daughters, Jennifer and Jill were born.

After the University of Wisconsin and a brief time in New Jersey, the family moved to Albuquerque in 1974, where Ken joined Sandia Labs as a research scientist.

Several years later, Diane started her teaching career at APS where she taught for the next 20 years as an English/Social Studies/History teacher, most of those years at Del Norte and La Cueva High Schools.  Diane made such an impact on her students, that till her death many of her former students who would run into her would thank her and tell her what an impact she made on their lives.  Her many friends have voiced the same opinion.

In their time off, Diane and Ken loved to travel, and they instilled this love in their daughters.  From the time the kids were young, the family traveled throughout the U. S. and took several wonderful trips to Europe.  Other highlights for Diane included a raft trip down the Colorado river, an African safari and trips to Turkey, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Eastern Europe, the Balkans, St. Petersburg, and South America including Macha Picchu.

Diane also had a life-long interest in reading.  After she retired, she joined a wonderful book club which included many of the friends she had made while teaching.  But the most important thing to Diane was family.  She loved nothing more than gatherings with her family.  She will be greatly missed by her family members and her many friends.  She will be missed!

Once the COVID-19 situation settles down, we hope to have a celebration of her amazing life.