Diana S. Rinehart

Diana Rinehart was born to Gilberta and Thurman Sherwood on November 19, 1929 in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1933, her parents moved their family, Louise, Bob and Diana, to Great Bend, Kansas where Diana grew up and graduated from Great Bend High School in 1947. She started her freshman year of college at Lindenwood College for Women in St. Charles, Missouri, but one year of a woman’s college proved to be quite enough so she happily transferred to the University of Kansas in 1948. At KU she pledged Chi Omega sorority and it was during one of the sorority “hour dances” that she met her future husband William G. (Bill) Rinehart. Diana graduated from KU in 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Education, with a major in Speech and Drama. Diana and Bill were married on May 3, 1952, in Lawrence, Kansas. Diana followed Bill during his working years in the plastics and oil business where they lived in Lawrence, Pittsburg, and Overland Park, Kansas, then continued assignments to Orange and Port Arthur, Texas with their final stop being in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1979 where Bill retired. Diana was an active member of the Republican “Grand Old Party” who served for six years as Orange County (TX) Republican County Chairman and was Vice Chairman of the Tulsa County Republican party during the 1988 presidential campaign of her longtime friend, George H.W. Bush. Diana also worked as a journalist for five years writing the Sunday supplement “Spice” magazine for her hometown newspaper the ORANGE LEADER. Diana passed from this world on May 16, 2014. She is survived by her husband, Bill; their four sons, Bill, Corbin, Todd and Jeff; her daughter-in-laws, Donna, Barbara, and Robbie; Todd’s partner Tim Laime and son Alex; grandchildren, Walt and his wife, Elissa; Max, Christina, Cassandra, Anna, Shelby, and Shaena; her sister-in-law Ann Rinehart Thomas and husband, Tom Thomas and many great cousins, nieces and nephews. A rosary service will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 21, 2014, at Fitzgerald’s Funeral Home, Southwood Colonial Chapel, Tulsa, Oklahoma. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, 2014 at Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church with Monsignor Patrick Gaalaas presiding. Her cremated remains will rest at Saint Bernard’s. In lieu of flowers, donations in Diana’s name can be made to the Tulsa Library Trust, Saint Francis Hospice or the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation. The family would also like to thank Saint Francis Hospice for their devotion, love and attention to Diana while in their care, especially to nurse Linda Gordon. Also, in memory of Diana, she has suggested you give someone a hug, have a good laugh, be kind, share some of your treasure, dance a few steps, or enjoy a sunset, especially at the beach. Fitzgerald Southwood Colonial Chapel, 918-291-3500.

Diana S. Rinehart

November 19, 1929 - May 16, 2014