DIANA ELIZABETH ROSE POHL

(née LOXTON)

January 24, 1951 - March 16, 2022

Diana was born into a large family of seven siblings on January 24th, 1951. There were her two older brothers Lloyd and Bob, then Diana, then her two younger sisters Audrey and Judy and finally her two younger brothers Ray and Ken. Diana’s parents were George and Bernice Loxton.
 
She had a great childhood living in Elmwood, playing outside during the days and evenings with her siblings and many friends. She spent her time riding bikes, playing jump rope, knock knock ginger and many more fun pursuits.
 
When she was a young teen, she and her family moved to Hespeler Avenue, where they lived for a couple of years. There she loved to dress up her youngest brother Ken, with his long blonde curly hair, as a girl and pretend that he was hers. She had a knack with babies at an early age and loved children.
 
Later in Diana’s teenage years they moved to Rivercrest, which at the time seemed far away from the city. She quickly made friends and enjoyed going to the local community centre. There she played baseball, attended community dances, bonfires, enjoyed music and played many card games with her siblings.
 
Diana attended Garden City Collegiate, where she met her good friend Pat. A few years later, Pat would set Diana up on a blind date with Otto. She was very nervous, but it ended up being a blessing because Diana was immediately smitten with him. He was such a gentleman, opening doors for her and treating her like a lady. Needless to say, they quickly fell in love, getting married on January 4, 1970.
 
She was so excited to have her first son, Jason, on April 30, 1970. Being a premature baby, she had to wait anxiously for 5 weeks before she was able to take him home. Around this time, Diana and Otto purchased their first house on Garfield Street which soon became their family hub.
 
Diana and Otto had to wait 7 years before they were blessed with their second son Jeremy on August 23,1977. However, a short time later she was thrilled to learn they would add to their good fortune yet again with their third son Darryl on January 9, 1980.
 
Diana cherished being able to be a stay-at-home mom. She loved children so much that she and Otto decided to foster children. Throughout the 30 years she nurtured many children and always found it so hard to watch them leave when the time came. One of them was a wonderful boy named Jevan. He stayed with Diana’s family for many years and became part of it, with Diana becoming mom to him and Jevan another son to her. She now had four loving boys.
 
Not only did Diana have her boys and foster children, but she also frequently babysat her two nieces, Bree and Marlee. This created a special bond between the young cousins growing up. The nieces just loved their auntie.
 
When the children were young Diana spent a lot of time with her sisters Audrey and Judy. The sisters had a strong bond and were the best of friends. There were many joyful wine sessions, much laughter, good talks and so many hours cooking together.
 
From the beginning Diana was excellent at keeping her family fed. She could cook up a storm - perogies, cabbage rolls, homemade bread etc. Her family and friends were fortunate to enjoy such tasty offerings. But we have to say no matter how hard she tried she never was able to make a good pie crust. This was proven when her brother-in-law Bernard could not cut through her crust with a fork. He jokingly dropped his piece of pie on the floor and the crust didn’t break. We teased her for years and she always laughed, she was such a good sport!
 
Diana loved to entertain family. Many weekends were well-lived at her house enjoying good meals, playing games and spending time with kids. Family always meant everything to her. She always took an avid interest in her boys, attending all sporting events and encouraging them to have fun.
 
For many years Diana’s and Audrey’s families spent whole summers camping at the Oasis. Joined often by Judy and other family members. They were a family that loved being together.
 
When Diana and Otto moved to their second home in 1986 on Burrows Avenue the family traditions continued. There was always an open house at Diana’s. Family would sit around the kitchen table, well-fed and talking for hours.
 
Diana loved her yearly trips with Audrey, Judy, and kids to Neepawa to visit their grandma and Auntie Rosie. Every trip she made everyone stop for banana cream pie without fail. She also very much enjoyed attending annual picnics at the park with her extended family.
 
Eventually, Darryl and Jeremy moved out and got married. With family being so important to Diana, this was hard for her. She wasn’t able to spend as much time with them and that took a bit of getting used to. 
 
It wasn’t long after Darryl and Jeremy moved out that Diana’s wishes for grand kids came true. First came Xavier on May 16, 2004. He was the first grand kid out of all of her siblings. To Diana, now grandma, this was almost a form of ‘bragging rights’ throughout the family for a short period of time. She was so excited that when Kim went into labor Diana snuck past the nurses and showed up in the delivery room... then she was promptly escorted back to the waiting room! Diana loved the fact that she was a grandma and the daycare of choice for Xavier.
 
Then on March 30, 2006 Tatyana was born. This was a momentous occasion for Diana as she always wanted a girl of her own, but was blessed with all boys! She thoroughly enjoyed showing off her granddaughter and going dress shopping for her. True to form Diana loved dressing up Tatyana in the latest styles (dresses for Tatyana were much better than Ken’s). And of course another spot opened up in Diana’s Daycare.
 
Diana spent many years spoiling... um “caring” for Xavier and Tatyana until Tatyana started kindergarten. This was a bit of a sad time for her as she loved spending the days with her grand kids. Fortunately for Diana it wasn’t too long before Austin joined her world on April 9, 2012. As with her two previous grand kids, she rejoiced in the opportunity to spread love to her third grandchild and gleefully Diana’s Daycare reopened! Austin was the 6th boy that she took care of so Diana had lots of practice and she knew all the fun stuff that little boys liked... including afternoon naps with grandma! 
 
With her grand kids out of the nest Diana and Otto started spending more time together. Even though she longed for their grand kids, her and Otto were now able to enjoy more freedom, spent days at a time visiting family, going on dates as well as many other activities. Otto eventually convinced Diana to take her a flight even though she was very afraid of heights and flying. They went to Powell River, BC. and as the plane took off she held his arm for dear life. They enjoyed the company of friends, relaxed and were able to enjoy a couples vacation. Diana loved the trip and talked about it for a long time afterwards.
 
Sadly on November 23rd, 2017 Diana’s husband Otto passed away. She was heartbroken. This was a very difficult time for her, but all of her family was there to comfort and support her. During this time Diana’s oldest son Jason spent the most time with her and gave her a constant shoulder to cry on. Their bond grew closer over the past few years, always joking with each other and they became almost inseparable. 
 
Diana also had a love of family pictures and had them in every room. Over the years Otto tried to put their pictures on her computer, but Diana wanted nothing to do with it as to her pictures belonged in frames or albums so they could be enjoyed and remembered.
 
Diana spent her last couple of years summering with Judy and Bernie at their cottage. She enjoyed relaxing with her sister, going for dinners and taking pictures of the deer that ventured through their property. 
 
Diana loved all of her family. Throughout the years she never missed her kids or grand kids birthdays or special events. She was always there with a permanent proud smile. Diana was one of those few people who can claim they found their calling in life... spreading love. She never got angry, always made everyone feel welcome, provided a safe space for her kids to grow, protected her family and loved unconditionally. She lived this practice her whole life until she rejoined her husband Otto in the next one on March 16, 2022.
 
Diana loved to reminisce about the events of her life, right to the end of hers. We have her laughter, kind and caring nature, endless smiles and happy memories to forever cherish. Mom, peace be with you until we meet again…
 
We would like to thank the nurses and doctors at the Health Sciences Centre for the care they provided to Diana in her last days. It is appreciated.

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Diana's family kindly requests that all of her friends and relatives take a few minutes to honour her memory by watching the photo-biography above. Please, also consider sharing your own photos, memories, and stories by making use of the comment section on this page.

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