Celebrant Pam Meily Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

Diane Dorothy LeClercq was born to Grace and Armand LeClercq in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1934. She was raised with her three sisters: Shirley, Sherry and Julie. The family lived in Wilkensburg, Pennsylvania, before moving across the country to Burbank, California. Her father owned a restaurant, while her mother was a homemaker. She learned everything from her mother who was kind, soft and intelligent. Diane was especially close to her grandma and grandpa, as the entire family was close knit. Her sister, Shirley, remembers Diane was a wonderful caretaker and even though she was older in years, Diane was like her big sister, always taking good care of her. Diane had a wonderful childhood. She took ballet classes for a while and she was a good student who excelled in school. Learning a strong work ethic early on, she worked as a waitress in her father's restaurant. As a result of her early influences, she was always devoted to her work wanting to do a good job.

After graduating from Burroughs High School in Burbank, Diane attended University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), where she studied a general curriculum. Between UCLA and Cal State University, she joined the Merchant Marines and worked for Matsonian Cruise Lines traveling between Los Angeles and Hawaii. At Cal State Northridge, she studied nutrition and after graduation, took her internship at the Veteran's Administration at Wadsworth Hospital in Westwood. Mutual friends introduced Diane to the love of her life, Daniel. He noticed her lovely smile and her beautiful long legs. They had a lot in common and started dating. Their first date was bowling at The Pickwick Bowl in Burbank. During this time, Diane and her mother took a cake decorating class and Diane showed great talents in creating elaborate, detailed cakes. Diane and her mother started a catering business and they were very successful. When her mother took ill at the end of the semester just before finals, the professors voted to eliminate the finals for Diane. She had straight A's already and the required final exams wouldn't change her grades. Shortly after that, her mother died unexpectedly. Diane forged ahead, taking classes for a summer at the Culinary Institute of the Arts back East. She returned home, earning her degree in Nutrition at Cal State Northridge. Right out of college, Diane's first job was as Chief Dietician for Kaiser Hospital. She also joined the American Dietetics Association and was a lifetime member. She was a gift to Kaiser patients for the next ten years, as she always had a very caring nature and liked helping people.

In October 1964, her dream came true in marrying her partner and best friend in life. The couple married in an old log cabin in Brant Park in Glendale. Dan had studied his history books while sitting on the benches in Brant Park. It was a quiet, beautiful spot. Diane wore a blue dress she handmade, as she was an excellent seamstress. Dan wore a light blue suit. The couple exchanged the traditional vows, which they honored for decades to come.

The couple bought their first duplex in 1971. Two years later, they joined forces when Dan invited her to join the business. Their first apartment was a one-bedroom, which was one of four units they owned in Van Nuys. As their property business grew, they moved into a two-bedroom apartment. Dan learned by the seat of his pants, but he was street smart. He knew when to buy and when to walk away from properties. Even though she was more conservative in her approach, no matter what, Diane supported his decisions. As their ownership of properties grew, Dan purchased the house next door, which sat on an acre of land. He and a carpenter added onto the house and the couple moved into what they transformed into an incredible home. They were good to their tenants and their tenants liked them in return. The tenants even helped Dan take down trees on the property. With Diane's love of cats, tenants were allowed to have cats as pets. By 1975, they had built up Wilken Woodland Apartments in Van Nuys, by adding 13 units, which were relocated from San Pedro. Diane was creative, as she'd choose the colors of paint, carpeting and blinds for the interiors. The finishing details she helped with were critical because that's what sells. Diane even took a hands-on approach mixing colorful flowers in the flowerbeds and guiding the landscaping. As a result of their creative investments, the property remains a country oasis in the middle of the city.

Over the years in the business, Diane and Dan met all kinds. Diane always understood people. She used to say, "They're just being people." She was very forgiving. Diane made elaborate spreads for tenants on Sunday mornings, as she made them breakfast. Together, Diane and Dan were quite a team and as they bought and sold properties, while providing exceptional housing to tenants. They owned and managed 23 properties. Diane was very proud of what they created. In fact, Dan says he couldn't have found success without her support. There are many memorable stories, as Diane made sure her voice was heard. Daniel remembers when they fought rent control at City Hall in Los Angeles. Diane spoke up for all property owners, as she was an incredible speaker. One time in 1978, after speaking at City Hall, the couple was with their friend, Joan, another property owner, when they passed a City employee who was handing out anti-property owner flyers from a table in City Hall. When Joan grabbed some the flyers and started to rip them up, the police accidentally put Diane in handcuffs instead because they were both wearing red blouses. After Diane and Dan ended up in handcuffs, the police took them to the cruiser as rabble-rousers. Once they got into the car, the police removed the handcuffs. Joan stepped in with her attorney at the police station and the charges were dropped. Another time, a tenant stepped out from behind one of their apartment buildings and put a gun in Diane and Dan's faces. Diane started talking back and telling him, "You're in trouble now." While Dan told her to be quiet, even when the gunman threatened "I'm gonna blow your head off," Diane stood her ground and gave her opinion. The police were called and then the SWAT team showed up. Given one more chance, the gunman surrendered. Being a property owner wasn't easy, but Diane always stood up for what was right.

While the couple worked hard, they also enjoyed fun time together. Her favorite holiday was Christmas as Diane transformed the entire house with many boxes of decorations. The Christmas tree Dan bought in 1963 for $14 still stands in the house every year. With Diane's talent for baking, she had two ovens working overtime around the holidays as she baked cookie trays for the tenants. She baked 144 dozen different kinds of cookies for tenants and friends. She always had that giving spirit as it made her happy. Diane and Dan enjoyed spending time going to movies. In fact, they both loved movies and went to the movie theater once a week. She enjoyed musicals, while he liked historical pieces or foreign films at The Laemmle Theater. As a personal interest, Diane loved the beauty of flowers, as she liked going through Roger's Gardens. In 1990, the couple joined the La Quinta PGA West Country Club. They went to relax. For several years, they took off traveling for more than a month at a time. They traveled to every state across the United States and to Europe. Relaxation was important as they made their most money while traveling, because they could relax their minds and think clearly about business decisions. Their world was about balancing work and fun. Diane liked traveling with Dan's family and Shirley had fun joining Diane and Dan on a trip for nearly a month. Traveling with the boat created great memories as they took the boat to lakes in Minnesota, British Columbia, and along the Illinois, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, among others. They once took the boat from Chicago to New Orleans on an incredible trip on the Mississippi River. On another trip, they took the boat to Key West, Florida. If there wasn't a motel or hotel along their travel route, they pulled the car over and slept in the boat for the night. Diane enjoyed boating and water skiing. She was a great single water skier, but for Dan, the only way to get her off the water skis was to stop the motor and sink her. Diane loved fishing for bass and catfish at Lake Powell. Throughout it all, Diane enjoyed golfing with Dan. She liked playing foursomes and she kept active. In fact, up until three months ago, she was golfing by riding in the golf cart and putting on the green at each hole.

Diane was always ready to go out somewhere. Even if she was only going to lunch, she was always put together and ready to meet anyone. Diane had a talent for matching colors to the tone of the skin so she always looked beautiful. She loved wearing white or bright colors. Diane was a tea drinker and she'd have a glass of white wine now and then. Diane and Dan ate out at restaurants every day for 40 years. Lunch and dinner out of the house was really their escape together. They'd go to Pasadena for dinner to get away and keep up with politics on talk radio stations. Diane's favorite talk radio host was Mark Levine. Her favorite television show was The Golden Girls. She even loved watching the show in reruns, whether she had seen it before or not. It always seemed new and funny again. One of her all-time favorite films was the musical Mamma Mia. She loved it in the movie theater so much, she saw it with Dan twice. Once in Pasadena and another time they drove through Morro Bay to San Luis Obispo to see it again. When Dan bought a copy of the movie for her, she watched it nearly every day because it made her smile and feel good. The most recent film she saw was The Changeling. Diane loved music. Her favorite song was "You Are My Sunshine," and she enjoyed listening to music by André Rieu, whose music was featured on the public television station KCET. She loved songs by Frank Sinatra and Andy Williams. She was thrilled when she met Andy Williams. She asked for his autograph and talked to him at the Country Club. Another time, Diane was watching Bob Hope play golf on the 18th hole. When he hooked the shot into the water, the crowd was silent except for Diane who hollered, "Hit another one, Bob!" Bob Hope stopped, looked into the crowd, reached into his pocket, pulled out another golf ball and hit another shot. As an animal lover, Diane had a great love of cats. Puff, her black and white cat, lived to be 22 years and 5 months. Zoey, her beautiful tortoise cat, is 18 years old. Zoey has kept a close watch over Diane in the house, by staying at her side during the last few weeks.

The most challenging portions of Diane's life were dealing with cancer and fibromyalgia. The best part of her life was always her husband, Dan, and her family. In many ways, she lived for Dan as they worked together, played together and everything in their relationship came naturally for them. At Christmastime, Diane opened presents and she loved having a lot of people over to visit for the holidays. Diane always gave hugs to family and friends, and she always said, "I love you," to her husband, Dan. In fact, the last thing she said to her husband were the words, "I love you." In her final moments at home, Diane was surrounded by Dan, Erin, Doris and Ray, as Brahm's Lullaby with the words, "Lullaby and Goodnight…" played in the background. Dan will miss her like mad. He will miss everything about Diane as she was his partner and best friend in every part of his life. When Dan was asked whom he trusted in this world, he answered, "I only trusted two people. I trusted Diane and sometimes I trusted myself." Shirley will miss Diane because she was her sounding board for everything in life, as she was always willing to listen. Diane was so looking forward to so much more in life. She was looking toward retirement and she was a fighter until the end. Her advice to her family and friends would be to carry on and do the best you can.

Diane will best be remembered as kind, understanding and positive. She always saw the best in people and she loved life. Diane was preceded in death by her parents, Grace and Armand; two sisters Sherry and Julie; and many friends. She is loved by her husband Daniel; sister Shirley; extended family members, tenants, employees and many friends. As Diane believed in God and Heaven, her family believes they will be reunited with her one day. Until that day comes, may she rest in peace…

In honor of Diane's love of animals, memorial donations are welcome in her name to Best Friends Animal Society: www.bestfriends.org, phone 435-644-2001 option 5.