Diana Ortt

Diana Rose was the third child born to Julia and Norman Vestey on August 2, 1934. At age nineteen on February 6th, 1954, she married her sweetheart, Leslie J. Ortt, Jr. Within ten years their family grew to include Michael, Lori, Timothy, Julie, Patrick and David. Her life was spent as a mother and homemaker caring for her six children, one of whom was a special needs child (Julie). Life consisted of the normal, unremarkable tasks associated with a large family, i.e., laundry, cooking, cleaning, sewing, PTA meetings, back-to-school nights, band concerts, scraped knees, drying tears and raising six, rambunctious children. Despite the daily challenges of such a large family, all her children were baptized and confirmed in the Lutheran faith and successfully graduated high school.

Our mother did not author a best-selling novel or find a cure for cancer. She believed that folks should live within their means and, along side our father, provided us with a warm home, delicious meals, the requisite religious training and proper manners and boundaries. In her downtime, she played on a ladies’ recreational volleyball league, enjoyed weekend tennis matches with dad, joined friends for lunches out, waged late-night Bridge “battles” and served at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church in whatever capacity was needed.

As her chicks flew the nest, she and our father became avid square dancers and round dancers. They were members of an elite round dancing group called Jim’s Dandys where an excursion and performance in Russia was a particularly memorable highlight.  Our Diana was incredibly proud of her family heritage and went on the trip of a lifetime to meet her Vestey relatives and learn more about her English lineage.

God shared her with us for 87 years and on Wednesday, February 23, 2022, she slipped quietly away from us to re-join her mother, father and brother Bill who had left us years ago. We were fortunate to be able to let her know that we loved her and were present as she experienced the final day of her earthly experience.

Diana is survived by her beloved Leslie, who is absolutely heart-broken in her absence, her oldest sister, Dorothy, her children Michael (Rebecca), Lori (Gary), Timothy (Joan), Julie, Patrick (Christopher) and David (Erika), and her 9 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren, all whom she loved dearly.

Upon our father’s passing, our mother’s remains will be interred by his side at Ft. Logan National Cemetery. At that time, a grave-site service will be held for immediate family.