Obituary of Diane Payne Reynolds

Diane Payne Reynolds of Haddam, CT, passed away on August 18, 2014, at age 79, after a long struggle with Alzheimer's. She was born Mary Diane Payne in Oil City, PA, on March 13, 1935, daughter of Helen Callahan Payne and Sherman E. Payne. She met the love of her life, Lester Jay Reynolds, Jr. of Kinderhook, NY when he was working at Koppers in Oil City. During their 58-year marriage, Diane and Les lived in Bound Brook, Ramsey, and Basking Ridge, NJ before retiring in 1990 to Old Lyme, CT. They also lived in Chester and Haddam, CT. In Basking Ridge, Diane was an active member of the Presbyterian Church, serving as a Deacon, coordinator of SCEEP (a tutoring program for children from Newark), and as co-founder/director of The Shelter, a home for abused women and children. She was President of the Board of Trustees for the Family Counseling Service of Somerset County, NJ and chaired multiple committees for the Somerset Hills Community Chest/United Way which honored her with the President's Award and the Charles and Jane Engelhard Award. In 1989, she was very touched and honored to be selected as Woman of the Year by the Resource Center for Women and their Families, serving women of Somerset County who have been affected by domestic abuse. She also held leadership positions in many other not-for-profit organizations. Diane continued her active volunteering when she and Les moved to Old Lyme, CT. She was a Board member of the Child & Family Agency of Southeastern, CT and Chair of the Lyme/Old Lyme Auxiliary of the agency, an active member of the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, and a docent at the Florence Griswold Museum. Diane loved life, her family, art, music, flowers, and her cat, Callie, who was particularly comforting to her during her Alzheimer's disease. She also treasured the many summers she and her family spent together at Chautauqua Institution, NY. Diane and Les were foster parents to 12 children over many years, some of whom are in contact with them to this day. Fostering was Diane's way of giving back in recognition of all the people who helped her family when her mother was bed-ridden with Multiple Sclerosis. Diane was a trusted confidant for many individual women who valued her listening skills and compassion. She lived in awe of the natural beauty of life and inspired others to look at the world in the same way. She is survived by her husband, Les, two daughters, Pamela Reynolds Knecht of Hinsdale, IL, Kay Payne Reynolds of Cape Neddick, ME, their husbands, David Knecht and Dan Ramus, two grandsons she adored – Jeffrey Payne Dietrich and Mark Reynolds Dietrich, both of Boston, MA, and her brother, Calvin David Payne, of Tucson, AZ. There will be a service celebrating her life at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme, 2 Ferry Road, on September 13, 2014 at 2:00 pm. A reception will follow at the church. The family requests that instead of flowers, donations may be made in Diane's name to The Child & Family Agency of Southeastern, CT, 255 Hempstead Street, New London, CT 06320, http://www.childandfamilyagency.org/. To share a memory of Diane or send a condolence to her family please visit www.rwwfh.com Arrangements by the Robinson, Wright & Weymer Funeral Home in Centerbrook, CT.