Diana Duplissis

MONONA - Diana Jean (De) DuPlissis of Monona, passed away on April 21st after an eight year battle with colorectal cancer. Never giving up or in, De always thought of others, delivering evening meals on wheels and participating in the Live Strong program through the Dane county YMCA. One of her proudest moments was being asked to speak on behalf of the program.

De was born in Highland Park Ill. and grew up in Chicago. A gifted athlete, she excelled in basketball before Title IX and was the President of the Girls Athletic Association at Sullivan H.S. where she graduated in 1972.

She moved to the Madison area in 1989 and worked in customer service at Lands' End from 1995 to 2003 until a slow growing brain tumor made speech difficult. De graduated from Madison Area Technical College with two AA's, one in liberal arts and the other in Meeting and Event Management in 2005 when she was honored at graduation with the outstanding student of the year.

Her passion was photography. She created beautiful and romantic landscapes, seeing beauty in light and shapes that others overlooked. Her pictures were shown at Lands End, Wisconsin DOA and the Madison Center for Photography.

De is survived by her life partner of 16 years, Janet Schneider, her mother Mildred Roberts of Amery; sister Margaret Diddams of Seattle, WA; and brother John DuPlissis of Wisconsin Rapids. A Celebration of De's Life will be held at the Cress Funeral Home, 3610 Speedway Rd., Madison, WI at 1 pm Monday, May 12th. Visitation will be held from noon until time of service. In lieu of flowers, memorials can be given to North Seattle Community college, who will give the scholarship next fall to an older female student who is returning to school. The link is https://nsccef.ejoinme.org/- please note "in memory of De DuPlissis."