DIANNE MARIE (VALENTINE) ROBISON

 On July 28, 1946, Henry and Connie Valentine had their second of 5 children, and they named her Dianne. She was born in Chehalis, Washington, because her home town of Centralia, just a few miles north, didn’t have a hospital. First was Ron, her older brother who just recently passed away; then Dianne, then Cheri Robertson of Colorado, Brian and his wife, Jianna, of Washington, and Rick and his wife, Mandy, of Washington.

 Dianne grew up in a small town, Catholic family. Her and her friends literally grew up together in a time when kids ran all over town. But it was also a time when a neighbor across the street or even on the other side of town was watching out for kids. And when they got home, mom and dad already knew exactly what they had been up to. So that gave a lot of sense of protection.

 Dianne did all her schooling in Centralia, with going to a Parochial school for the first 8 years and then to Centralia High School where she graduated. And after all these years she has maintained close ties with several of the girls from school. Kae and Suzi came to visit her just a couple weeks ago, but arrived a day late.

 Life seems to go by and we sometimes seem to only be bit players in its script. Dianne grew up knowing about the Lord and that helped keep her moving forward in her life.  She married Theodore Patrick England, "Pat", while very young. They had 2 children, Aaron (Lauressa) of Austin, TX and Gary and Tiawanna of Duncan, OK. And she has 5 grandchildren, whom she loved very much.

 Pat and Dianne were married about 8 years before they divorced. From then on she went on to be a truck driver, long haul for many years and owned her own truck. Two of them actually, her first one was a Black Kenworth and her second was a red Peterbilt. She loved being on the road. And she was pretty good too. The long days and miles gave her an appreciation for life, and her own ability to take care of herself.

 Aug 22, 1998, she married Roger Robison at Dorshack Lake, in northern Idaho. And they built a good home and a wonderful life. She still drove truck and Roger worked at the mill. They loved to go and do so many things together. One of their favorite things was to simply jump onto their quads at home in Kamiah and just head to the hills. They didn’t need to haul the quads anywhere; they started from home and would ride around in the hills for hours. If they weren’t doing that, they were fishing, camping, or waterskiing. Dianne loved waterskiing slalom. She skied until she was about 62 years old. And Gary recalls exactly why she skied slalom, because she couldn’t afford 2 skis.

 It was not her desire that quit, it was her body.  She broke an arm in one skiing accident as well as in another she broke her back. But she still enjoyed riding in the boat.

After she sold her Peterbilt, she went to work for the saw mill in Kamiah and worked in the office. Her sense of doing things with perfection proved to be a huge asset for the company.

 In 2011 she decided that she and Roger would move to Oklahoma, to be a little closer to Gary and Tiawanna. They bought a beautiful ‘fixer upper’ and she thought of it as her dream home. She started right in with painting, repairing and landscaping, and made it all her. For 7 years they lived in it. But really the heat, the humidity, the tornadoes were all just a little more than she bargained for. So she and Roger thought they’d move back to Kamiah. But they both wanted a little less snow to deal with each winter. A friend mentioned Emmett. They came to visit and like many who come here, fell in love with it. The house they bought was turnkey ready, walk right in and it was all set. But, Diane couldn’t just do that. So for the next 2 years she set to painting, repairing and tiling - making it as she wanted it. She loved landscaping and made the yard beautiful as she needed something to do while Roger was at work.

 You can’t mention Diane without mentioning how she loved her dogs and cat. When they lived in Oklahoma, she told Roger she wanted a Yellow Lab. She wanted a female and was very adamant about that. But when they went to look at a litter of lab pups, only males remained. The reason she wanted a female was because she had her heart set on naming the puppy Holly. So as Roger turned to leave, she said, "Well, we can name the boy puppy Holly, after Buddy Holly!  Holly became a part of the family; along with Ginger.

 A year and a half ago, on Valentine’s Day, Roger and Dianne met a local pastor while out to dinner at Tom’s Cabin. They started to talk and before the night was over a friendship was kindled and an invitation to church was offered and accepted. Much to the surprise of the Pastor, Dianne and Roger, held true to their word and went to church where they found a home in Heritage Christian Church.

 The last year was hard on Dianne. She lost her brother, Ron. She has felt a little under the weather for quite a while. But she always had a smile on her face. She spoke of her joy in the church. And she had begun a daily bible reading with a lady at church and looked forward to that every day when they were available. She felt so good about all that she was learning about her faith and the Lord.  We will see her again!

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