Vern Edmund Diede

Laverne Edmund Diede, 78, of Broomfield, Colorado, entered his eternal home with the Lord on August 16, 2018. Vern was visiting his brother Jim in Aberdeen South Dakota, at the time of his passing.

Laverne was born in Ipswich South Dakota on April 11, 1940 to Edmund Herman Diede and Ella Bertha (Rempher) Diede. He was the third of eight siblings. He attended Ispwich grade school through high school graduating in 1958.

In 1959, Laverne enlisted in the United States Army where he served his country overseas in Germany and Austria. While crossing the ocean to and from the United States, he worked on board the transport ship with his main duty being bread baker and slicer. He came back home in 1961.

In August of 1963, Laverne married Joyce Virginia Walter, also of Ipswich S.D. Together they had two children, Steven Laverne in 1965 and Cynthia Lou in 1968. After attending and graduating drafting school in Yankton South Dakota, the couple moved to Arvada Colorado.

Laverne worked as an engineer/draftsman for Bell Labs, AT&T and Lucent Technologies. He loved the intricacy of designing and repairing circuit boards for telephones.

In January of 1988, Laverne married Janice Fuller of Thornton Colorado. Jan has three children to whom Vern became step-father to, Greg, Mark and Paula.

Vern and Jan met at a singles dance class and continued years of dance lessons together. Any time there was music of any kind, they were out on the floor doing the two-step. Vern loved to dance, sing, fly remote control airplanes, golf and most of all, have a great time.

Shortly after retiring from Lucent in 1996, Laverne obtained his CDL license and started driving an 18-wheeler. He loved traveling the open road, stopping to take pictures and videos and taking in what he called Gods country from one coast to the other. The whole family enjoyed regular e-mails and cd's Vern created, titled ""Tagalong with Trucker Vern."" After retiring completely, Vern and Jan enjoyed spending the winters snow-birding in Arizona.

Vern is most remembered for his love of the Lord. He was a godly man and taught his children what his parents taught him, to have a child-like faith. Vern lived his life according to this teaching and was able to share this sentiment with the absolute joy of his life, granddaughter, Shayna Rachelle. A favorite Bible verse that was shared by Vern often was 2 Corinthians 5:7, ""For we walk by faith, not by sight.""

Laverne was preceded in death by his parents, Edmund and Ella Diede, and brothers Darv and Larry Diede. He is survived by his wife Janice Marie Diede, son Steven Laverne Diede, daughter Cinde Lou Welty (Diede), son (in law) Jason Paul Welty, and granddaughter Shayna Rachelle Welty. Vern is also survived by Jan's children Greg, Mark and Paula and their children, Ashley, Aaron, Brant, Grace and Michael. Vern is also survived by siblings Darlene (Darv) Diede, Edna (Ken) Schmitt, Darlene (Arnie) Johnson, Linda (Les) Kuebler, Lois (Gene) Comfort, Jim (Brenda) Diede and many nieces and nephews.

Vern will be remembered as the kindest, gentlest soul with the warmest smile, personality and larger than life sense of humor. He will be deeply missed by all.

A Visitation will be held on Wednesday, August 22nd from 5-7PM at the Horan & McConaty Family Chapel, 9998 Grant Street, in Thornton, Colorado. Family will be receiving guests one hour before the Funeral Service at 9:30AM followed by Funeral Services on Thursday, August 23rd at 10:30AM at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 8997 W 88^th Ave, Broomfield, Colorado. He will be laid to rest at Fort Logan National Cemetery.

Please leave memories of Vern and condolences for his family by signing the guestbook below.

Funeral Service: August 23, 2018 10:30 am

Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church
8997 W. 88th Avenue
Broomfield, CO 80021
303-424-1306

Visitation: August 22, 2018 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm

Horan & McConaty - Metro North/Thornton
9998 Grant Street
Thornton, CO 80229

Visitation: August 23, 2018 9:30 am - 10:30 am

Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church
8997 W. 88th Avenue
Broomfield, CO 80021
303-424-1306