Diane Schwartz, 69, of Story City, Iowa

Graveside Services:  Will be held on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. at the Fontanelle Cemetery.  The Lamb Funeral Home in Greenfield is in charge of the local arrangements.  Online condolences may be left to the family at www.lambfuneralhomes.com.

Diane Lynette (Miller) Schwartz of Story City, Iowa passed away on June 5, 2025, at her home in Story City. She was born November 12, 1955, the third of six children, to Ivan and Ethelmarie (Martin) Miller in Greenfield, Iowa. She was baptized into the Christian Faith and confirmed her baptismal promises at the United Methodist Church in Fontanelle. She accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior as a teenager.

Diane graduated from Bridgewater-Fontanelle High School in 1973 and attended Southwestern Community College for one year. On June 30, 1974, she married Lyle Lee Schwartz at Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Fontanelle. To this union, three children were born: Lane, Leland, and Laura.

Lyle and Diane attended Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa from 1974-77 where Diane earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary and special education. She retired from a fulfilling career in education in 2017 after 36 years. She taught elementary classes and K-12 special education in Iowa and Alaska. After finishing her master’s degree in 2000, she taught graduate classes in special education for Morningside College. The last 12 years of her career, she served as a special education strategist/consultant for Iowa’s AEA system.

Lyle and Diane spent ten of their thirty-six professional years teaching in Alaska. They spent time in the villages of Gambell on St. Lawrence Island, Elim on the Iditarod Trail, and Wrangell in the Tongass Rainforest of SE Alaska.

As an adult, Diane did not find the Will of God on her life difficult to determine. She strove to show the Love of Jesus in her daily walk. She believed it was her ministry to share His Love with her friends and family and help them see that Jesus is a very present Help in our daily lives. Psalms 91 and 103 were two of her favorite chapters. They showed God as her Savior, Forgiver, and the Healer of her body and soul.

Diane loved spending time with Lyle, their three children and spouses, and their grandchildren, as well as their extended family. Diane served as the family historian and loved organizing and hosting reunions. She believed this was one way to share her families’ roots and see the way God works through family generations. She wrote and printed six family history books for her maternal and paternal families. In 2017, her dream of traveling to Ireland and Scotland was realized. There, she met with a genealogist who helped her tour her paternal Armstrong and Earls family churches, kirkyards, and family lands. Lyle & Diane’s travels took them to all 50 states, as well as Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and Antarctica.

Diane was preceded in death by her parents, brother David V. Miller, infant grandchildren James and Isabell Schwartz, father-in-law Carl Schwartz, sisters-in-law Sharon Miller and Judy Schwartz, brother-in-law Kenneth Gevock, nephew Shawn Bollhoefer, and niece Caidynce Schwartz. She is survived by her husband Lyle Schwartz; sons Lane (Sylvia) Woodrose Schwartz of Fairbanks, Alaska, and Leland (Erin) Schwartz of Story City, and daughter Laura (Michael) Dreiss of St. Paul, MN; grandchildren Kai and Jack Schwartz, Julianne and Olivia Schwartz, Leo and Hugo Dreiss, and Ellen and Irene Shreiner; her siblings Deneise Olson, Dennis Miller, Deb Gevock, Douglas Miller, and sister-in-law Julie Snyder-Miller; Lyle’s siblings and spouses, and many nieces, nephews, and other relatives.