Diane Madison lived her life with an intense love for the Lord, unwavering devotion to her family, and a tenacious determination to take as many people to Heaven with her as was humanly possible. After a lengthy battle with cancer, Diane graduated to Heaven on April 4 at her Clovis, California home surrounded by family who treasure her. She was 86.

Diane Lenore Skinner was born on October 2, 1937, in Rochester, New York to Ruth and Raymond Skinner. She
grew up on a farm tending to the family's animals and cultivating a love for gardening in Leonardsville, a small rural town in central New York. Her father, who was in the armed service, was the high school principal and her mother was a librarian. Her only sibling, a brother, Norman Skinner, preceded her in death.

Growing up, Diane had a very close relationship with her mother and often said she was her very best friend. It was from her mother that she first learned to love the Lord Jesus. When Diane was a teenager, her parents moved the family to Ethiopia, Africa where her father served as a high school principal on a military base. One night at a dance on base, Diane was introduced to Daniel Quentin Madison, a young soldier who was a codebreaker and morse-code telegrapher.

As unbelievable as it may seem, Dan and Diane knew immediately that they had been made for each other. Moments after they met, they began talking about a future together. Daughters Danielle Drollinger and Lisa Cline recall the conversation their mom shared about their parents' love story. Mom said, "I'm a Christian." Dad answered, "I am too." Mom responded, "We're both Christians and we are surrounded by the behaviors of the world. What are we doing? We have to change some things. Let's get out of here!"

The next day Dan proposed and Diane accepted. The two were married December 26, 1959, in Southern California where Dan had been transferred. After his discharge, the couple settled in Southern California and were blessed with three children, Dale, Danielle, and Lisa. A contented stay-at-home mom, Diane was fully devoted to her family. She made hot breakfasts, delicious lunches, home-made dinners, and after-school cookies. Most of all she loved making any kind of pie. She was the "pie queen." Her favorite was apple
pie. She showered her family with love.

Every day before Dan got home from work, Diane would tidy up the house then race to the bedroom and emerge a few minutes later wearing lipstick, hair beautifully combed, a clean dress, and high heels. That's how she greeted Dan every night and that's how she finished making dinner. "It's my job to be beautiful for my husband," she often told her daughters. Physically beautiful, but never vain, Diane took great pride in her appearance. Family, friends, and acquaintances fondly called her "Princess Di".

From the beginning of their marriage, faith was central to their lives. Dan, who was the first Christian in his family, worked hard at controlling his Hungarian temper while he learned more about the Lord, studied the Bible, and strengthened his faith. With a naturally calm nature, Diane was unflappable, level headed, composed, and self-possessed. She had accepted the Lord early and her faith was growing.

When she was 12-years-old, Diane attended an Indian Tent Revival. The pastor preached the salvation message and Diane told her children, "I couldn't run down the aisle fast enough to give my heart to Jesus. I couldn't wait! I didn't understand it. I didn't know what it meant, but I knew that was what I wanted!"

Diane's Bible knowledge grew tremendously when she was newly married and a neighbor named Rachel came knocking with a box of donuts and her Bible. Diane was about 21 at the time, and through her relationship with Rachel, her biblical knowledge, understanding, and faith grew. Together, the friends studied the Bible and every day listened to acclaimed pastor, J. Vernon McGee on the radio.

One day while Diane was listening to McGee preach, four-year-old Dale said, "I want what he has," and she led him to the Lord. Diane deliberately, intentionally, and purposefully discipled her children in God's Word. She was a deliberate disciple maker in her kids' lives, and later, her grandchildrens' lives. Every summer when her children were young, Diane loaded up the family station wagon with as many neighborhood kids as she could and delivered them to the church for Vacation Bible School. Diane was developing what would become a pressing and burning love for evangelism.

Every night Diane tucked her children into bed and prayed with each of them. Soon after, she and Dan were in bed too, praying out loud together. The children were lulled to sleep listening to their parents pray that each one of them would know the Lord, love Him, and walk with Him. After her children were older and Diane was in her 40s, she enrolled in Fresno State University and in June 1990, earned a degree in education. She taught special education classes in Kerman, a neighborhood populated mainly by farm workers. "We were so impressed that she went to school so late in life," Danielle said. "It didn't take her long to realize that about a half of her students were not special needs, but were actually hungry, and so she took food to school every day and fed them."

Diane worked as a teacher for about three years before she and Dan got an offer from their good friends Joe and Georgia Aleppo who worked for Bible Alliance, a ministry that provides recordings of the Bible to the Blind. In 1985, Dan and Diane were hired to work in ministry and moved to Florida. For the next 20 years, they traveled the world promoting the ministry.

In 2002 the couple moved back to California and settled into the small home they had bought at Mount Hermon years earlier to use as a vacation home for their extended family. It wasn't long before Diane began inviting women over for weekly Bible studies. Her commitment was remarkable. As soon as the women left her house, Diane began preparing the next week's study. Upwards of 24 women participated in the study for 15 years.

Over the years, the family began to grow as Dan and Diane's children married and had children of their own. In 2019, Dan and Diane moved to Clovis, CA to be closer to them. On January 17, 2021, after 62 years of marriage, Dan, the love of Diane's life, suffered complications from COVID-19 and went home to be with the Lord. Until then, the couple who fell in love on their first date, had been inseparable.

Diane lived her whole life striving to please the Lord and she was passionate about telling everyone she met about Jesus. "She witnessed to everybody," Danielle said. She kept stacks of the small book, Bread of Life: The Gospel of John, which she handed out extensively along with a piece of candy saying, "Read this! I want to see you in Heaven with me!" Even in restaurants, she would give good tips and the Gospel of John.

In recent months, Diane's desire to talk about Jesus became more urgent, She shared the gospel with everyone she met including her physical therapist, the pool maintenance man, the gardener, the exterminator, a waitress at her favorite bakery and her oncologist. And everyone she ministered to, she prayed for out loud as she had all her life with Dan. Diane closed every prayer by singing the sweet hymn, "I love you Lord."

Always a positive person, Diane loved to laugh about everything and that contented spirit continued through her last days. "Nothing came out of her mouth except grace," Danielle said, "We heard over and over, 'This is the best pot roast I've ever had! This is the best mac and cheese I've ever had! I'm so grateful! Thank you!' Every single thing out of her mouth was just grace and more grace and gratefulness and thankfulness to the Lord."

Lisa remembers that her mother never allowed anything to depress her spirit. "She always said, 'Just do the next thing and trust the Lord. Nothing happens by accident.' She always looked at the positive even if the situation seemed bleak. She always saw the sunshine, never the gloom."

Throughout her life, Diane had many favorite Bible verses, and in recent years, the one that meant the most to her was Philippians 4:11: Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content (NKJV). In going through her mother's things, Diane found that verse written on a small piece of paper in her mother's handwriting. She framed it, and kept it by her bed.

"She was so passionate about sharing the Gospel," Danielle said. "To the day she died, she had this burden. Mom could hardly walk but insisted on walking with me to all her neighbor's houses with Christmas gifts that shared the gospel with them all. This was her great passion in life." As her life drew to a close, her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were constant visitors. "She had taken the time to forge relationships with each one of them and make sure they were saved. She built into their lives. She prayed for them, advised them, loved them and the love she gave was received and returned," Danielle said.

"Mom witnessed more people the last two months than I've witnessed to in my whole life," Lisa said. "She wanted to witness to everyone she met and she is still witnessing after her death. Every day someone comes to the door and I hand them a Bread of Life: The Gospel of John and a piece of candy."

"We are hearing from people around the world," Danielle said. "Isn't it remarkable the difference two people can make on Earth when they pass on the love of the Lord?"

"In Heaven she's going to meet all kinds of people who come up to her and say, 'Thank you, Diane. You led me to Christ."

Before she died, Diane wrote a letter to each of her adult children. The letters, which were to be opened after her death, contained personal sentiments as well as the Bible verse that had been her strength during her battle with cancer, Philippians 4:6–7: Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Surviving are Surviving are son and daughter-in-law, Dale and Marianne Madison; daughters and sons-inlaw, Danielle and Ralph Drollinger, and Lisa and Darrin Cline; 12 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren.