Diane Long, age 89, of Manhattan, passed away April 27, 2024 at the Good Shepherd Hospice House in Manhattan.
Diane Lee Saunders Long was born during the sweltering summer of 1934 on August 2 on the Plaza in Kansas City. The endless heat of that summer may explain some of the dry wit and stubbornness she was known for.
She was the only child of John William Saunders and Violet Mary Dunn who were high school sweethearts and had roots in Oregon. While her dad’s grocery job led them to St. Joe and then Manhattan, they instilled a love for family in their daughter. They often hosted friends and family and went on trips to see them back west.
Diane worked for the City Dairy in Manhattan as an ice cream scooper and it is here where she met her husband-to-be, William Long, whose family owned the dairy where he worked on the milk routes. She went to Kansas State University for a year where she was in Tri-Delta and majored in journalism.
After she and Bill married in a simple ceremony with a cake and punch reception, they began building their life together. They brought four children home into their two-bedroom house: John William Long, Linda Kay Hall, Scott Chester Long, and Mary Susan van Swaay. Summers were spent on national guard drill camps and camping alongside others. The kids spent time exploring nature while Diane kept everyone together and fed (except for that one time one kid was left at a grocery store and had to be returned for) and Bill didn’t miss a single historical marker.
Eventually, they settled in on Church Avenue where they had coordinated Christmas lights and school pick up schedules with the neighbors when it rained. Diane was known for her ability to talk for ages with people on the phone, sit, sip coffee and chat with friends, and feed everyone who walked through her door.
She spent time running a daycare, taking care of her kids while attending their events, allowing her children to collect a menagerie of animals, and dealing with every car her husband and sons brought home that didn’t quite work. She was a poodle lover and adored having one on her lap. Tragically and much to her dismay, her husband brought home a much larger dog than her beloved poodles from the shelter. That Christmas, Grandma got ran over by a sheepdog that had got excited over a vacuum and ran over her and she got a new hip. Her stubbornness had allowed it to freeze, so really the dog was just helping her out. Eventually, the dog wormed his way deeply into her heart.
Her children married and she gained much beloved children in laws - Deborah Long, James Hall, and Jouke van Swaay.
They blessed her with nine grandchildren who she made sure she always had homemade applesauce from the backyard tree on hand for, that they never left her house hungry, and when they bickered with their siblings, reminded them of how she longed for a brother or sister. Those grandchildren were obviously the light of her life and their accomplishments both personal and professional are ones she could often be heard sharing. They continue to provide her with grandchildren in laws and numerous great grandchildren.
Diane was always fascinated with genealogy. She volunteered with the genealogy society, was dedicated to figuring out what connection could be proved to become a member of the DAR, leaving flowers on every family and family friends’ grave for Memorial Day, and loved connecting different places she saw or heard people were from to her family’s history. She and Bill spent numerous years heavily involved in Post 17 of the American Legion and as members of a Hunt Club. Together they helped care for and love the older generation of their family as they aged. While she loved K-State, she could never watch the game if it was tight because it made her too nervous.
She loved a medium rare steak, ice cream, coffee, fruit on cottage cheese, a good hot dog and never met a family dog she couldn’t make her best friend through feeding table food. She despised vegetables, arthritis, and the color orange. Her wit was dry, her kitchen seemed to magically produce never ending food to nourish and comfort her family, and she is deeply cherished by those who know her.
Her and her family are extremely grateful to the wonderful humans that helped care for Diane in the end at Meadowlark Home Health, Bramlage House, and Good Shepherd Hospice House.
Graveside Services for Diane will be held at 11:00a.m. Wednesday May 1, 2024 at the Sunrise Cemetery in Manhattan. Family and friends are invited to meet at the funeral home at 10:30a.m. to form a procession to the cemetery.
The family suggests memorial contributions in memory of Diane to the Johnson Cancer Research Center – KSU Foundation or the Arthritis Foundation. Contributions may be sent in care of the Yorgensen-Meloan-Londeen Funeral Home, 1616 Poyntz Avenue, Manhattan, Kansas 66502.