Diane Jones Obituary

Diane Marie Asselin Jones, 80, of Oley, passed away in Reading Hospital on Tuesday, October 19, 2021, surrounded by the love of her family. She was the loving wife of Larry Jones for 46 years until his death in 2009. Diane is survived by her daughter Elizabeth (Jones) Sica, wife of Robert Sica, of Kutztown, PA, her son David Jones of Oley, PA, and beloved grandchildren Calder Doran Jones, Olivia Sica, Ide Doran Jones, and Elise Sica.

Born in Detroit MI, Diane is the daughter of the late Leonard Asselin and Elileen (O'Rourke) Asselin of Lake Linden, MI. Diane's young life was spent with her large family in Detroit, and on summer trips to the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan's U.P. where her parents grew up. She contracted polio as an adolescent and endured a metal and leather brace for many years, and health complications in later life. But she wanted to remember, and to be remembered for, the good times. Here are some of them.

Diane wrote down many memories of her early years in Detroit including loving the knotty-pine bedroom she shared with her sister Susan on Mapleridge Avenue, trips to Silverstine's on Saturdays, winter skating, brother Len's parakeet Mike and teaching him tricks, her dad fixing spaghetti. Her family's summer trips to the U.P. were also highlights. She and her siblings played canasta and had parades with their cousins, and attended Friday night dances at Lake Linden High School. Visiting O'Rourke's Bar in Hubbell, she remembers looking through the window at her grandpa O'Rourke and wondering why she couldn't sit with him at the bar. When she got ice cream at "The Spanish Shop" in Lake Linden, her cousin Maurice, the ice cream scoop, would tell her she didn't have to pay for the cone since her last name was "Asselin."

Diane graduated from Dominican HS in Detroit in 1958, and that same year her family moved to LaGrange, IL. She attended Lyons Township Jr. College in LaGrange, and also worked as a "Nixon Girl" at the 1960 Republican National Convention in Chicago before the family moved again to St. Louis, MO. Diane met her husband Larry Jones at the Newman Center on the campus of Washington University, and they were married on June 8, 1963 in St. Louis, Larry's hometown. Diane quickly became like a big sister to many of Larry's younger siblings.

An art major at Washington U, Diane was just shy of graduating when she took a job at St. Louis State Hospital working with institutionalized children as an art therapist. Her intense work at the hospital provided some of the most meaningful experiences of her young adult life. She helped one of her patients, who had become mute through trauma, regain his voice by drawing. Our family will always remember the stories of "Dennis," and treasure his pencil sketches, including one of Diane as an elephant with a water spout trunk that "filled" Dennis up.

Diane left her job at the St. Louis State Hospital and worked at an after-school art program in the mid 1960's, where she and her coworkers developed activities to promote learning and creativity. She had access to different tools and workshops at the center, where the early designs for her future wooden jigsaw puzzle business would take shape. Larry became a successful typewriter salesman for Olivetti Underwood, and Diane and Larry were able to travel many places in the 60's and 70's with Olivietti, including Puerto Rico, Acapulco, and Italy.

Larry's job with Olivetti took the family to West Reading, PA in 1972. Diane was already making toys for children at that time, and began focusing on wooden jigsaw puzzles - numbers, names, colors, animals, to name a few. The family enjoyed these early years in West Reading and were involved in the Sacred Heart Parish, the West Reading Pool and the Reading Public Museum. Many close friendships were made.

When they saw an ad in the paper for a beautiful Pennsylvania stone farmhouse in the village of Oley, Diane and Larry pursued their dream of moving to the "country." They purchased the George and Susannah Milloth home, built in 1813, from the Evans family in 1976, and spent the rest of their lives in the Oley Valley. Diane set up a dedicated wood shop in the garage in Oley, and her business, "Wood 'N Things," was born. She joined the PA Guild of Craftsmen and for many years sold her jigsaw puzzles and related wooden toys at the Kutztown Folk Festival, where she had her stand near the Ox Roast.

Diane's sister Susan and her family had also moved to PA, and the two families continued the tradition of travelling to the U.P. for summer vacations. Memories of these trips include visits with extended family, fishing for pike on Torch Lake, looking for agates on Lake Superior rock beaches like Five Mile Point, and outings to Toni's Pasties, the Jam Pot, Brockway Mountain Drive, Copper Harbor, Houghton and Michigan Tech University (her father's alma mater), the bear pits, and Dreamland Bar. Di and Sue also took several autumn trips to the U.P. to visit their parents in retirement. She treasured photography outings with her dad to McLain State Park for sunsets, Traverse Bay for sunrises, and to Lake Superior on windy days to photograph the waves hitting the rocks. Fall color drives to Eagle Harbor, pie at the Pines Restaurant, and helping her dad split wood with the gas powered splitter are also fond memories.

Her life in Oley was filled with many meaningful friendships that lasted decades. She and her friends enjoyed dinner parties, trips to Avalon and Stone Harbor, and New Year's Eve talent shows. Many of Diane's friends have passed on, but her dear friends Tony and Lois continued to take her on outings to the Sands Casino when possible - Tony called Diane his "casino wife." Neighbors and friends Pam and Tom remained close, Pam continued to share laughs with Diane till her last days.

Her family - especially her children and grandchildren - remained the joys of Diane's life. Her grandchildren spent many early years playing, drawing, swimming, reading, exploring and walking to the "Second Hand Store" with Diane in Oley. Diane's children, Beth and David, will not only remember the adventures of childhood like swinging on rope swings, visiting St. Peter's Village, making bread dough ornaments and cranberry wreaths, and having Diane at all their sporting and musical events, but are also deeply grateful for the creativity and wonder she instilled in them into adulthood. Penland School of Crafts and the Dodge Poetry Festival are institutions that helped shape their lives, and Diane introduced Beth and David to these places/events. We love and miss you, mom!

Diane is predeceased by her brother Leonard Asselin, and is also survived by Len's widow Gay Asselin, brother Ronald Asselin (Elaine) of Omaha, NE and Lake Linden, MI, sister Susan Leipholtz of Hudson, WI, brother Brian Asselin of Seattle, WA, brother Tom Asselin (Peggy) of Palm Harbor, FL, brother James Asselin (Sue) of Malvern, IA, and a bountiful number of loving brother- and sister-in-laws, nieces, and nephews.

Diane will be laid to rest with Larry in Frieden's Cemetery, Oley, PA. A graveside service and celebration of life will be announced at a later date. Please feel free to share memories and photos in the Stitzel's online guestbook. A more extensive online memorial, to which friends and family can contribute, will also be shared soon.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Diane's memory can be offered to The Keweenaw Heritage Center: https://www.keweenawheritagecenter.org ,

Little Brothers, Friends of the Elderly, Upper Michigan: https://www.events.org ,

or the Animal Rescue League of Berks County: https://www.berksarl.org