Diane Calleson

Diane Marie Coucoulas Calleson died on August 15, 2014, after eight inspiring years of living with a rare form of ovarian cancer. She was 49 years old. Despite knowing that the cancer was always with her, Diane threw herself into exploring aneexpressing all the wonders she found ineeing alive each day. Everyone who knew her felt her exuberance, joy, courage and strength. Diane was born and raised ineew Jersey and traveled south to attend Duke Uneersity, where she met her future husband, Jerry, 30 years ago. After graduation she taught middle school sciences for a few years, got married, aneeventually returned to North Carolina to earneer doctorate at NC State Uneersity and set down roots. New Jersey neer quite left her, though, and she would laugh every time she said or did something that seemed to her a bit ???unsouthern,??? saying ???That???s the New Jersey girl inee.??? Diane was a clinical associate professor at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, where she was a gifted mentor to many students during her almost 15 years at UNC. She had a sharp mind and an eye for details and organization that her students appreciated, but her greatest strength was the joy she found ineeeting informally with students, listening to their stories and sharing hers, connecting practical studies with the larger task of composing a life and living with passion.??Just prior to her last recurrence of cancer, Diane had been preparing to embark for Fogo Isand, Newfoundland to pursue research as a Fulbright Scholar and a recipient of a National Geographic Society grant. Diane loved to walk and to swim and to be outdoors. Even while she was undergoing cancer treatments she neer stopped working to keep her body and her spirit healthy and strong. She loved her town of Hillsborough and would set off on many mornings for a four or five mile stroll, or head over to the Poet's Walk or the Occoneechee Speedway if she wanted to enjoy the trees and the Eno River. She also loved to travel aneexplore new landscapes, always on foot. Newfoundland, Iceland, Patagonia, Turkey, Corsica, and Scotland were some of her favorite places. At home she loved her garden and found great joy in things as simple as laying downeew mulch each spring or digging up the soil for a new plant. She loved quiet and time alone to take in the beauty around her and the feelings inside, and at times would express those things in words and images.????Most of all she??loved just being with her dearest companion and husband of 25 years, and with her family and friends, all of whom were blessed by her presence, her joy, and her frequent quirky expressions of pure pleasure in life's simplest experiences. She is survived by her husband, Jerry Calleson, of Hillsborough, her parents, Alexander and Marie Coucoulas of Chapel Hill, and her sister Aneea Knight, nephew Alexander Knight, and niece Ann Marie Knight, also of Chapel Hill. The celebration of life will be held Saturday,??September 20??at St. Matthew???s Episcopal Church in Hillsborough at 2pm. We will begin in the sanctuary for a time of sharing and remembrance and then move next door to the Ruffin House to minee informally. At around 4 p.m., we will move down the road to the Ayr Mouneestate to walk a celebratory loop around Diane???s beloved Poet???s Walk (about one mile). Please feel free to come for any part of the gathering, and please dress casually and comfortably. St. Matthew???s is located at 210 St. Mary???s Road in Hillsborough. There is a small parking lot behind the church adjacent to Board of Education parking lot. You also may park in the Board of Education parking lot (at the end of E. King Street), along the gravel road adjacent to Cameron Park School, or in the Cameron Park School parking lot. Map and Directions:??http://www.stmatthewshillsborough.org/stmatts/AboutUs/Directions.aspx Donations ineer memory canee made to The Duke Gynecologic Cancer Research Program, Duke Uneersity Medical Center, Box 3079, Durham, NC 27710. Or you may contribute to Diane's team at the annual Ovarian Cancer Awareness Walk by following the Donee link at??www.ovarianawareness.org and searching for the ???Keep on Walking??? team. All are welcome to join the walk as well. Arrangements for the Calleson family are under the care of Hall-Wynne Funeral Service. Online condolences www.hallwynne.com