Diane comes to us after a long and varied career in the secular world.  She began her career as a police officer for the University of Illinois, Chicago campuses.  As the result of a state budget crisis, Diane was laid off in 1975 and immediately went to work for Rush Presbyterian St Luke’s Medical Center holding various positions in the Security Department.  When she retired in 1995, she left the position of Chief Criminal Investigator.

After the death of her mother in 1995, Diane moved to Florida in search of a warmer climate.  She chose not to continue in the law enforcement field after a 23 year career and sought work in an office environment with more regular working hours.  She began working for an independent insurance agency where she trained in all facets of surety specializing in commercial surety.  She obtained her license in 1997.   She retired from this position in July, 2007 as she took a leap of faith and moved to Guatemala as our full-time, on-site missionary.

Diane’s early personal life was filled with bad decisions and sinful choices but she was gloriously saved at the age of 39 in 1989.  Her life changed instantly and dramatically though like many new believers she did struggle in some areas.  She was called to missions just two months after being saved but she had very little understanding of what that meant.   She made herself available to serve in both her home church in Illinois and again in her new church when she moved to Florida.   In Florida, she served as a worship leader, singles leader, Sunday School  teacher,  missions director, and writer/editor of her church newsletter.   In 1998, Diane took her first short term mission trip to Guatemala.  She took additional trips to Guatemala in 1999, 2000, 2005, and 2007.  She visited El Salvador in 2001 and Ecuador in 2003.   She moved to Panimaquin in August of 2007 after retiring from her job and selling her home and most of her belongings. 

Diane is a graduate of Governor’s State University in Illinois (1991) and of the Institute of Theological Study by Extension (INSTE) (2006). 

Diane had opportunity to serve elsewhere in Guatemala but chose to come to Panimaquin because of the opportunity to directly interact with the people of our tiny “aldea” (village) on a daily basis and is particularly excited about working with all our children as an English teacher.   She often calls herself the “banker” as she handles all the financial needs in the field and like most women would be, she is happy to be - along with Glendy - the “shopper” for the several hundred meals served each week, materials for our factory, and miscellaneous items needed to run the project.  While she is not yet fluent in Spanish, she is communicating with our people daily.  She is adjusting to the cool climate, the altitude, the frequent outages of power, the erupting volcano nearby, the language barriers, and the challenges of driving.

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