Source: Sioux City Journal, May 24, 2006

Diane Brown, 56, of 29711 183rd Ave., Zwingle, died at 11:10 p.m. Sunday, May 21, 2006, at home.

Services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. Lawrence Church, Otter Creek, with the Rev. Paul Lippstock officiating. Burial will be in Harmony Cemetery, Zwingle, with military rites accorded by the United States Naval Reserve. Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Leonard Funeral Home & Crematory, 2595 Rockdale Road, where there will be a wake service at 7:30 p.m.

She was born on Jan. 24, 1950, in Kingsley, daughter of Russell and Gertrude (Rhomiller) Swanger. Diane began her life on a family farm near Sioux City.

She began her own family in a log cabin near Golden, Colo. She moved to the Dubuque area in 1980, where her family expanded to raising five children.

She was the resident manager of the Hold Mini Warehouse of Dubuque and later started her own business as a massage therapist and health care provider. Diane was closing in on a 20-year career with the Naval Reserves of Dubuque, where she served with honor, courage and commitment as a petty officer first-class.

Diane loved the outdoors and spending time with her family, her greatest love and her friends. She embraced life and lived it to the fullest. She had music in her heart, song in her life and dance in her step.

She will be greatly missed by those she touched in life and love.

Surviving are three daughters, Branda (Bill) Kennedy, of Davenport, Helen Brown, of Zwingle, and Ivy Brown, of Davenport; and two sons, Caleb Brown, of Maquoketa, and Benjamin Brown, of Zwingle; three grandchildren, Madison Kennedy and Keegan Kennedy and Ellie Brown; four brothers, Dennis (Kereen) Swanger and Donald Swanger, both of Moville, David (Theresa) Swanger, of Lawton, and Dwayne (Angie) Swanger, of Waterloo; and numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by a son, Eli Brown; her parents, Russell and Gertrude Swanger, of Sioux City; and a sister, Donna Marie Swanger.