Diane Elizabeth Franklin's Obituary
Diane Elizabeth (Mitchell) Franklin was born January 31, 1947 in Dallas, Texas, to Fred Allison Mitchell and Carrie Elizabeth (Steele) Mitchell. She passed away February 5, 2021. Her sister is Freddie Gail (Mitchell) Lowery, and is married to Jerry Lowery.
Diane graduated from Kimball High School. Her Lodge was Duncanville Chapter #1014, Order of the Eastern Star, and was a Worthy Maidtreian 2 years in a row.
Diane met Richard on a blind date in October of 1961 to go to the KLIF Hop. It was held at a downtown hotel where Diane and Richard danced to "Hey Paula" by Peter Paul and Mary; it was the best night ever!!
Richard called Diane to ask her out on this date, even though it was a blind date. He said his name was Dickie when she answered the phone, asked her on the date, and Diane replied "I can't go with you. I already have a date with a Richard." He laughed and said that he was Richard, his mom and dad called nicknamed him Dickie. Shortly after that, about 5 years, Diane finally told Richard, "Are you going to marry me or not? If not, I'm going to find someone else." So, Richard turned to her and said, "let's get married then." Diane's only request was that Richard ask her dad for her hand in marriage. When Richard asked Diane's dad, the only thing he said in the end was, "If you can afford her, then it's okay."
They were married on October 29, 1966 at the First United Methodist Church in Duncanville, Texas. They went on their honeymoon in New Orleans, and on their return, Richard was drafted into the Army and was sent to Germany where Diane joined him later. She loved being overseas as this meant a lot of traveling. They were able to see where Mozart was buried - The Eagle's Nest, and the salt mines; but most of all, she enjoyed it because she was together with her husband, Richard. After the service, she joined a company where she traveled a lot. In fact, they were able to see Paris, France and the Eiffel Tower, London, England and Buckingham Palace, Big Bin and Parliament. The two of them had a great time.
Diane was a wife, a mother, a grandparent, and a person whose true love was her grandchildren. As for wanting children, they waited 8 years for them and she was really happy. At one time, she told her son, Rick, that he really needed to have children so that she could spoil them and then them back home.
Then like clock work, Rick and Maria had Allison, and then they had Eric, and low and behold, they had Mia. That really made her happy and so excited that after Mia was born, she said, "I have come to the conclusion not to be called grandma." She studied for several days and one day she decided she wanted to be called "Grammy. Yes, that is what I want to be called", and from that point on, that is what the grandchildren would call her, because that made her feel young with pride and joy - not old, like grandma. Whenever she could, she would have them go here and there and buy them everything under the sun. And guess who had to pay for them, Richard, but he was really okay with it because it kept her happy.
"To me, I will miss her the most because of her joy and care free attitude about life. So after 54 years of marriage, God will get an angel. And like Monsignor Zimmer once said, 'She has her place in heaven, be he really don't know about me'". - Richard Franklin.
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