Eleanor Roosevelt said " A woman is like a tea bag - you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water".

Diane Warnick Johnson Walker was the strongest woman, I know! She has had way more than her share of hot water and weathered through it! She was born on a chilly March day in 1938 in Whitehall, Montana, to Mame and Verle Johnson. Mom and Dad, along with brother, Barry lived in a log cabin they built, above the town of Pony under Hollow Top, the highest peak in the Tobacco Root Mountains. Diane decided to come into this world 6 weeks early, and with no easy way to contact Dad at work in the mine, the girls were rushed to the tiny Whitehall hospital. Di made here entrance, before Dad, having been told of Diane's anticipated birth, could ski, run and finally get a car to be with his girls. Perhaps this should have been a clue to the strong, stubborn, "et me do it me ownself" personality of my sister, Diane. The family moved to Butte and then to Billings, where I eventually joined the family. Di was a stubborn, whiney teenager and argued about everything, like which way you hold your fork when you eat your meat. She was, however, the only person that wanted to play the bassoon in the orchestra. She could roller skate down the Terry Avenue Hill without trepidation! She would not allow her big brother, Barry, to intimidate her, although I am told he made her wet her britches when he scared the BeJeezus out of her at the Moss Mansion. She did get him back when she ducked and the aspirin bottle he threw at her went through the plate-glass window in the living room. Just another quiet evening at the Johnson abode. Diane graduated from Billings Senior High School. She had worked at various jobs through high school and saved enough to go the Montana State College in Bozeman, majoring in elementary education.

When Diane went to college, the whiney, stubborn Diane did a 360. She joined the Chi Omega sorority. She met and fell in love with Harold William Walker, Jr., a giant of a man in body and soul, called Sonny. The football coach wouldn't accept a player named Sonny, so we all knew him as Hal. She had found a gem!! Di had never been so happy!

Hal and Diane were married in September of 1958. They spent the next few years between Floweree and Bozeman, finishing their college degrees in the off seasons of farming. The city kid from Billings became a truck and combine driver, who loved to shoot rattlesnakes! Diane would spend the next 60 years of her life on the farm. The greatest joy in Diane's life was her four children, Richie Lee, Jane Marie, James Bevan and Bruce Alan. Sadly, she didn't get to raise Jane Marie. She died shortly after she was born which was one of the early crosses that Diane would have to bear. Life in the Walker household was typically busy like all families with three children, farming, ranching, school activities, kids' sports, farming, ranching, building a house, contributing to the community, and more farming and ranching! Life was very full!

It was a dark day in September of 1984, when Diane lost the love of her life. She was 43 years old. She was the Commander in Chief of the Walker Corporation. There wasn't much time for tears, because it was harvest. As she often said many times through the years," You do what you have to do!" Diane Walker did what she had to do. She and her boys continue to ranch and farm to this day. Diane was a voice via the Teton River Watershed Group and Eastern Star, as well as support of all her kids' activities. She became a world traveler with dear friend, Richard Vian, our cousin Nick Pace and his wife Sheryl. They traveled to Australia, New Zealand, the Holy Land and Turkey, Scandinavia, and numerous places in Europe. There aren't many states in the United States that she didn't visit.

This woman of steel lost the love of her life, 3 children, a dear, dear friend, beat ovarian cancer, and put up a huge battle with lung cancer, but until just a few weeks ago, kept a smile on her face and a positive attitude toward life. She still likes to shoot rattle snakes and she certainly wasn't afraid to use the F-bomb!

In the words of Carly Simon, "A really strong woman accepts the war she went through and is ennobled by her scars." Diane Warnick Johnson Walker, you are the most noble of women!! You are the strongest person I know!!

Funeral service for Diane will be 2:00 p.m., Friday, January 18, 2019 at the Montana Ag Center. In lieu of flowers memorial donations in Diane's name may be made to the Carter Fire Department, P.O. Box 242, Carter, Montana 59420. Benton Funeral Home has been entrusted with services and arrangements. Please visit Diane's online memorial page at www.bentonfh.com to leave a message of condolence for her family.