Diane “Gramma DeeDee” Alvarez passed away May 7, 2021 at home with her husband Dan lovingly by her side. She was 68.
Diane was born November 12, 1952 in Wareham, Mass to the late Herbert and Margaret Nickerson. Diane grew up as the daughter of a funeral director and often told her children haunted and spirited stories of life above a funeral “parlah.” The movie “My Girl” was often a good comparison.
The funeral business moved the Nickerson Family to several areas of Cape Cod and often housed a youth hostel in which Diane met and would often befriend bicyclists from around the world.
Once settled in Centerville, Mass, Diane attended and graduated from Barnstable High School, Class of 1970. It was here she not only met her first husband “Billy” Wojtkiewicz, but also her life-long friend and future sister-in-law, Lynne Dumas. Diane & Lynne were inseparable and the type of friends that finished each other’s sentences, ironed each other’s hair, and easily cared for and loved each other’s children.
Diane graduated from Katharine Gibbs School in May 1972. She followed Billy in the fall of 1972 to Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware. The couple enjoyed a few years of young Air Force life before welcoming their first child, Julianne in 1975 and their second child, Mark Andrew in 1979. Diane worked as a secretary at several offices and colleges, including Wesley College and Delaware State College, especially on “Project 21.” Diane retired from the State of Delaware Department of Education in 2017 after 25 years alongside her best friend, Krista Holloway.
After a decade together, on July 16, 2008, Diane married her second husband Major Daniel A. Alvarez III, a retired USAF Fighter Pilot. Diane immediately took to the Middletown AFJROTC life and stood proudly next to her husband in support. She was honored that his cadets looked to her for guidance and encouragement.
Her children, and later her grandchildren, were her absolute pride and joy. You would often find her making a huge childlike mess with baking flour just to see her children and their friends laughing and having fun. She was never too grown up or too old to play in a good old fashioned water game, even if it meant standing at her kitchen window spraying the kids with water through the screen. “It’ll dry,” she would say. Just this past summer she was frolicking in the sprinkler with three of her grandchildren, Madi, JP, and Lizzie, despite any illness she was enduring. While her kids were growing up, she always welcomed in any kid and offered them something to eat. The family house was the neighborhood house. Diane was also never far from her kids’ sports games and loved playing the role of team Mom.
Diane was a member and past president of the Delaware Basket Makers Association. Having learned the craft from her Mom, Diane excelled at taking on the challenges of new designs. There isn’t a friend or family member without a personalized note, signature and date on the underside of a gorgeous “handmade with love” basket. From wine baskets to purses, angels to lighthouses, classic reed to Nantucket she could master them all. “Gramma DeeDee’s Baskets” are highly treasured and sought after.
Diane, Mom, Gramma DeeDee, will be missed by her family and friends. Always available for a hug or a pep talk, Diane was only a phone call away. Her knack for remembering something special about everyone she met left even the most humbled honored.
In addition to her parents, Diane was preceded in death by her brothers Herbert III and Baby Edward. Diane is survived by her husband of 13 years, Daniel Alvarez III, her daughter Julianne Maichle & her boyfriend Evans Leighty of Clayton, her son Mark & his wife Suzi Wojtkiewicz of Dover, her step-sons Danny & his wife Holly Alvarez of Miami, and Chad & his wife Jessie Alvarez of Grasonville, her grandchildren Madylin & Jonathan Maichle, Elizabeth Wojtkiewicz, Lily Alvarez, Grace, Abby & Selby Scaggs.
Memorial Service will be 3pm, Friday, May 21 at Townsend Church, Townsend, Delaware. Friends may call two hours prior. www.tfwb.org
Donations in her memory may be made to American Cancer Society or Delaware Hospice. www.cancer.org www.delawarehospice.org
Letters of condolences can be sent via www.pippinfuneralhome.com