Diane Lillian Walbesser

Diane Lillian Walbesser, 89 years old, passed away Monday, April 29, 2024.The memorial service will be at The Delaney at Lake Waco, 2121 N. Hwy 6 on 2:00 pm, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. Diane was born near Niagara Falls, New York, in October of 1934. Her parents were Freda and Thomas Walker. She graduated from the University of Buffalo with a B.A. degree in Divisional Sciences. Following that she taught mathematics at Randolph Central School. In 1958 she married Henry Walbesser, Jr. and moved to Maryland.

While her husband did his graduate work at the University of Maryland in College Park, MD, she taught mathematics and took graduate courses. After her husband earned his Ph.D., they moved to Texas where he began teaching at the University of Texas in Austin. Their first son was born there. Diane fell in love with Texas and was unhappy when 2 years later they moved back to Maryland. Her husband had received an offer of a position he just couldn’t refuse. During this time, she was very active with her sorority, holding all local offices before serving as the international level of Alpha Gamma Delta. While raising three children, they also were named as Outstanding Foster Parents for Prince Georges’ County for their work with pre-adopt infants. She strongly felt that every child deserved to be loved and cherished. Eventually, Diane returned to full-time employment. She worked at a CPA firm as a receptionist where she learned word-processing, and then worked at the University of Maryland in various capacities. In 1992 her husband retired from the University of Maryland and to her delight, took a position as Dean of the Graduate School at Baylor University. Diane was happy to be back in Texas. Since coming to the Waco area she worked with Baylor Round Table, served on the Board of Directors for the Waco Civic Theatre, the Board of Directors for the Strecker Museum, and on the Board of Baylor Institute for Learning and Retirement (now known as Lifelong Learning). She enjoyed doing volunteer work. Her interests also included reading, painting, knitting, quilting, and other hand crafts. She will be remembered by many for her love of meeting people, her good humor, her passion for organizing, her love of traveling, especially taking cruise vacations and her sense of adventure.

Diane lost her husband Henry H. Walbesser, Jr. in 2022. She is survived by her daughter Kathleen Watkins, her sons Henry H. Walbesser, III, and his wife Mindy, and James Walbesser and his wife Gisele Munoz. She is also survived by 6 grandchildren: Austin and Kyle Workman, Sarah Watkins, Lily Riehn, Heidi and Max Walbesser.

She asked that any memorials be made to Planned Parenthood of Central Texas.