V. Oatman

Verda Diane Oatman, known as Diane, was born to Ivan and Verda (Blewitt) Lincoln May 22, 1945, in Lewiston, and passed away at home in Post Falls on Wednesday, June 5, 2019, from respiratory complications.

She attended her school years at Lapwai and moved to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley, where she found employment at St. Joseph Hospital, working in the kitchen as she began her young family in 1963. Diane worked primarily in the culinary industry until becoming a teacher’s aide for Lewiston’s Head Start. Her unrealized dream was to become a teacher.

But life’s demands as a single parent of four forced her back into the culinary industry and she found employment at Rest Haven Nursing Home, where she worked for more than 10 years and even earned a certificate to become the kitchen manager.

Diane left the valley in 1987, landing in Redwood City, Calif., where she was dietitian for Casa de Redwood, and returned to Idaho in 1992 to Moscow, where she was head cook at Good Samaritan until her retirement in 2013. Upon her retirement, she returned home to the valley until 2015, when she moved to Rathdrum, Idaho, to be closer to her nearest children.

Diane loved driving the old back roads of the area, telling stories of her childhood as well as enjoying all that God blessed northern Idaho with. She was an avid reader of history and fiction novels, and enjoyed her morning paper with puzzles. She was a hard worker who did her best to lead her family. She valued family and was a loyal friend to many, encouraging many young people while forming lifelong relationships with them.

Diane was preceded in death by her oldest daughter, Susan (Maria) Oatman, and her oldest granddaughter, Jessica Oatman; both of her parents; and her sister, Dorene Bolon. She is survived by her two brothers, Butch and Kevin Lincoln, both of Lewiston; daughters Ginny Snowder of Dallas, Texas, and Patricia Hume of Rathdrum; and son Michael Oatman of Lewiston; also grandsons Kyle and Curtis Wong of San Francisco and Darrin Hume of Portland, Ore.; and granddaughters Toni Wood of Hitchcock, Texas, Emily Metcalf of Oklahoma City, Okla., Alex Coleman of Plano, Texas, Shaney Hume of Rathdrum and Brandy Hume of Coeur d’Alene; six great-grandsons; and one great-granddaughter; as well as two nieces and eight nephews.