Diana
Lee Mansfield has graduated from this life and gone on to reunite
with loved ones she hasn't seen in a while. She passed away
peacefully in a myrtle grove near Fairview, in earshot of a babbling
brook, surrounded by kinfolk, with her dog by her side, on May 17,
2021. A few ailments and old age took their toll. She was 78 years
old.
She
was born Diana Lee Yost on March 2, 1943 in Marshfield, Oregon to
Fritz and Helen Yost. Her family then moved to Northern California,
where she grew up in Eureka until age 12, then Morrow Bay until age
16, then back to Eureka for her last two years of high school. Her
birth parents later divorced. Helen married Richard Juetten, and
they settled in Washougal, WA. Fritz married Bertha Siqueiros, and
they settled in Eureka, CA.
Diana
graduated Eureka Senior High School in 1960. In mid-life, she
returned to school and graduated from Southwestern Oregon Community
College in 1994 with a Computer Information Systems degree. She
worked for periods of her life at the fisheries in Charleston, the
Englewood Market and the Egyptian Theater, in Coos Bay. She was also
deeply involved in various 4-H clubs in both her youth and adult
life. She loved dogs and horses, and enjoyed the outdoors, camping,
hunting, and fishing.
After graduation from high school, Diana
moved to Oregon and got a job in Gold Beach as a carhop at Jeannie's
Drive-In. That is where she met the man she married, Douglas
Mansfield, Sr.. Doug and Diana settled in Coos Bay where they had
four sons: Wayne, Joel, Phil, and Tim. The hardest work Diana did
in her life was raising them. They were rambunctious and jumped into
a lot of mud puddles over the years.
Her husband was not
always an angel, either. She once called in to “Party Line” (a
dial in radio program for locals to sell or trade things), listed all
his faults over the Coos Bay radio airwaves, and said she was ready
to trade if anybody was willing. She received some calls about him
from other ladies around town claiming their husband's fault lists
were even longer – and they would trade. This forced her to
reconsider the deal offer, and she ended up keeping him around for
many years.
Those
listed above who went ahead of her to the afterlife include Richard,
Helen, Fritz, Bertha and Doug. Her kinfolk still around are her sisters, Earline Shaw and Jane Teters; her brother,
Kurt Yost; all four of her sons along with their wives or lack
thereof; 14 grandchildren; 14 great grandchildren; and countless
cousins, nieces, nephews, and in-laws.
A
“Celebration of Life” gathering with a reception following will
be held for Diana at noon on Saturday, June 5, in the large
auditorium of the Coquille Community Center, 105 N. Birch St,
Coquille, Oregon.
Instead
of flowers or charitable contributions, Diana would want you to
either perform a random act of kindness, give your dog a treat, or
give your horse a handful of oats.