Diane Karen (Reed) Mathre Alderman (2013)

ALDERMAN, COOPER, MATHRE, REED

Posted By: Shirley Keating (email)
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:04:36

DIANE KAREN REED MATHRE ALDERMAN (2013)

Parents: Harry Wendell Reed (Deceased 8-23-1967) (See Madison County Obituaries) and Eulalia M. (Cooper) Reed

(Letter from Phil Alderman, Diane’s husband, November 2, 2013)
“With highest regrets I inform you that my wife, Diane Reed Alderman, nee Diane Karen Reed, passed away this last October 12th in Eugene Oregon. Please post an announcement to her classmates.

Diane was a graduate of Winterset HS, class of 1952, which she regarded as the starting point of her higher education. After raising three beautiful and accomplished children, she pursued a Batchelor of Arts (cum laude) and a Masters of Science at Dominican College. To pay for her way through college at that time, she opened a construction company and built five beautiful homes near Cazadero, on the Russian River in northern California. She had no previous experience in construction.
Following that, Diane became a technical writer on databases and generally anything else in Silicon Valley. Again she was successful for many years, able to output a prodigious amount of technically correct engineering and product support books. There was nothing she could not understand, it seemed.

Diane retired in Half Moon Bay, California, eventually moving to Eugene, Oregon for the last twelve years of her life. She always was a bright and gentle person to the end of her stay on earth. “

(from Class of 1952, 25th Reunion Book 1977)
“Mrs. John Mathre—Sells real estate. Husband is engineer—Pacific Telephone Co. Three children: Craig 22, Cynthia 19, and Eric 17.”

(from Class of 1952, 40th Reunion Book 1992)
“I am a technical writer/data analyst. I work for Silicon Graphics. We manufacture 3D computers that did the special effects in Beauty and the Beast and Terminator 2, etc. I have 3 children, Craig in Des Moines, Cynthia and Eric in California, and 5 grandchildren, all beautiful girls. I divorced John in 1987 and moved to this small town on the coast. Last year I bought a house and acreage up in Oregon…….My brother, David, (WHS ’50) died quite suddenly in February (1992). I’m still an avid reader and love to write…….”

(from Class of 1952, 50th Reunion Book 2002)
“After all three of our kids were going full time to school, I went back college……..I got an undergraduate degree in Sociology/psychology, went back a few years later and was awarded an MS in Counseling Psychology. …...After I got my degree, John and I moved back to San Diego where we lived when we were first married. I accidentally got into computers, and my involvement with the personal computer changed my life. …...When I left John, I was the Director of Programs for Easter Seals in San Diego County. I wanted to return to the Bay Area where I had children and a brother and my mother. I settled in a little coastal town called Half Moon Bay, and went to work at Apple Computer as a Data Analyst/Technical Writer. I made my living from 1987 to 2001 as a technical writer for several Silicon Valley
companies……..

In 1996 I met…..Phil. My mom was living with me; she had received a brain injury that affected her health rather drastically. I worked at home doing writing contracts while kept her company until her health failed, and she passed away in 2000. Shortly after that …...I sort of retired. I have a very small marketing communications company with a young friend, and we write various technical documents for companies such as Cisco, Sun, Apple, Adobe, etc.

In July of this year (2002), Phil and I moved from our small home in Half Moon Bay, California, to a larger house in Eugene, Oregon, where we are settling in nicely. He is also a technical writer, but spent years as a field service manager.”