Dianne Elizabeth Norell, 71, Denver, CO
Dianne Elizabeth Norell, 71, of Denver CO, died on July 10, 2020, of Alzheimer’s. A celebration of Life services will be held at a later date
Born on July 19, 1948 to Elizabeth Wiarda (known as Betty Norell) and Carl Bader Norell. She was taken home to the Bader family farm, which has been in the family since 1870. She was baptized at St Paul‘s Lutheran Church in State Center IA where she was also confirmed.
She graduated from the West Marshall schools in the class of 1966. She attended Iowa State where she graduated in Urban Planning in 1970. She then headed to Denver where she remained the rest of her life. In 1978, she received a Masters of Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Colorado at Denver. On July 21, 1979, she married John Alburn Breed from Clinton NY.
She worked at various Parks and Recreation organizations and later formed her own consulting firm Norell Design Associates. She was a member of St Philip Lutheran Church in Littleton CO.
She is survived by her husband, John Breed; 2 sons, Andrew (Aleia) Breed , Aaron Breed, and a granddaughter Harley Ann Breed; 2 sisters , Delores(Robert) Schuler , of Odessa TX and Donna Norell (Tom Coleman) and a brother, Dan (Cindy) Norell of Silver Springs MD; and 8 nieces and nephews.
She last visited Iowa in August, 2019, for the Norell Sibling Reunion.
Diane,
You will be missed , A beautiful soul is never forgotten.
Rest In Peace
I’m writing this on 19JUL2025 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA, where I have resided since 1971. After graduating from Amherst College and serving for three years as a junior officer in the Navy (I’m a Vietnam veteran), I took a job in Madison, Wisconsin as a radio newscaster in 1968 and began enjoying bachelorhood in a community that was overflowing with college girls. Several of them became companions of mine, including a charming young thing from Iowa who was taking summer classes at the University of Wisconsin. Today, for no special reason, it dawned on me that July 19th was Dianne Norell’s birthday and that I was with her when she turned 21 in 1969. I asked the Internet to locate “diane norell…iowa…july 19, 1948” and it promptly took me to this website. WOW! I had misspelled her first name and I’m sorry to learn that she’s passed away,
but the obit depicts a full life and I’m very pleased to learn about that. I remember well how I would suggest some activity and my perky blonde honey would mischievously reply, “Perhaps….” May the Almighty grant us a reunion when I arrive in the Hereafter.