Olga Diana Warnick

My mom

This page was done to remember my mom. I did this for all of the people who loved her and that she love in return. We had a memorial service for her Monday December 15, 2008. I hope everyone enjoys and remembers my mom from her on out. Just remember that she is still with us all in memory and she is our angel in the sky watching over us.

First of all here are my thoughts and memories of my mom:

My mom had loads of family and friends that will miss her. She was married to my dad for 41 years. She is survived by Vernon Warnick (husband), Lori Kellner-Warnick (daughter), David and Becky Warnick (son and daughter-in-law), Jacob, Britaney, and Marshall Kellner and Madeline and Caroline Warnick (Grandchildren). And by her sisters and brother-in laws: Linda and Frank Schwartz, Vicki and Ed Bayne, Dee Ewing, and Janet and Norman Wenczkowski. And her nieces and nephews and spouses. Yes we will all miss her but she has walked through the Pearly Gates and is at peace. She is our new angel watching over us.

My mom to me was special person. She was loved by all. My mom was the oldest child in her family. She really did not have lot growing up. My mom struggled with many different things in her earlier years. She fought her way through many illnesses. My dad helped her out with alot of these illnesses. My parents celebrated their 41st Wedding Anniversary on October 14, 2008. My parents have resided in Harford County, MD for 31 years. I remember when we moved up there, my mom was pregnant with my brother. Growing up I never cased any real problems. I did not get into trouble with the issues at hand in the '80's. I did the best I could in life. My mom was always hard on me and I never understood till now why she was like that. As many of you know, my mom and I butted heads many times in my adult life but in the end we loved each other unconditionally. I have learned many lessons in my life and as we all say "WE SHOULD OF LISTENED TO OUR MOTHERS!!" My mom was there with me through thick and thin.

My mom was very adventurous person. She was multi-talented. If my dad was learning something new she had to learn how to do it as well. There was not anything that she could not do. Her and my dad were the best of friends. They were made for each other. They loved to travel and that was her plans when her and my dad were to retire. But unfortunately this horrible beast called pancreatic cancer came into her life October 2007. Purple Ribbon awareness for Pancreatic Cancer. My mom told me of the awareness color just 4 weeks before all of this.
I thank you all for letting me share my story with you.


The Eulogy of Olga Diana Warnick

My mom, how do I begin to describe her?

This is by no means comprehensive, as to do so would take a book, this is merely an excerpt. Also, some of these stories are endearing, so it’s ok to laugh, I know she will. We are here tonight to celebrate her life, not mourn her death.

All my mom ever expected from me was my best. Nothing more, nothing less. So tonight I will do my best to take you on a journey into her life. Pastor Clipp will go into more details on her biography, her “facts”, if you will. I could tell you just what she means to me, but I hope to tell you what she means to all of us.

I don’t have many stories from her younger years, as I wasn’t really around yet. The couple of stories I can relay that are kind of funny are about her and her sister Linda. My aunt Linda was born about 2 years after my mom and apparently my mom wasn’t initially so enthusiastic about her arrival. So my mom tried to hide her under the bed. It was an ill-fated attempted, but I’m sure she gave it her best effort.

Another time, she was told by her father to share a bottle of soda with her sister Linda. So my mom drank the entire bottle. Linda complained to her father that she didn’t get any of the soda, so her father asked my mom why she had drank all the soda, to which she replied her half was on the bottom.

To say she grew up of meager means would dramatically understate reality. She and her sisters had to share clothes growing up. This was one of many experiences that would shape her life.

My parents only know each other for 3 months before they were married. By some good luck, I have here before me an opportunity to speak in my voice, her words, about those three months. This is an excerpt of an essay she had written many years ago:

I can remember the first time I saw him. It was a warm summer evening and my friends fixed me up with a blind date. As he got out of his car I thought he was the most handsome man I had ever seen. His name was Vernon, he has brown hair and the most beautiful blue eyes I have ever seen. His personality makes him a lot of fun to be around. He was funny and likes to pull practical jokes.

[One day,] we went to Pretty Boy Dam. As we where riding around, we saw a stream of water coming out of the side of a hill. When we stopped and decided to get a drink of water, we didn’t have a cup, and being a lady I didn’t want to get down on the ground on my knees and use my hand to get the water. So Vernon, being a gentleman, decided to get a straw out of the glove box and he had the idea of sipping some water [into the straw]. He was sipping the water and giving me small drinks of the ice cold water from the hillside bank. He did this several times so that I could get enough to drink. Finally, he was giving me a drink of water and the more that I drank the more there was to drink. The water started to run down my face. I looked into Vernon’s eyes and finally realized what he was doing to me. He had filled up his mouth with water and was giving me the overflow. When I realized what he was doing I stopped drinking the water and we both started laughing knowing it would be something we would both never forget.

We went to our families and told them that we were going to get married. Vernon took me out and bought me all my clothes for our honeymoon. I was trying to find a gown like the one that Shelley had when she married Tommy but I didn’t seem to have any luck. I knew my time was running out and I couldn’t find a gown like that one. Just about the time when I didn’t know which way to turn I got a phone call from Shelley. She knew how much I loved her dress and asked me if I would like to wear her dress when I got married. I said yes and she said it would be our dress and to this day it has and always will be our dress.

My mom was thrifty. She could squeeze a penny into a dime and then stretch the dime into a quarter.

One of my mom’s best friends was Betsy Campion, for whom she worked for 16 years.

As my father said, “Betsy was the owner, but Diana was the boss. If you were trying to sell something to Betsy, lots of luck. You first had to get past Diana. If you got lucky, and you did sell Betsy something, and Diana found out about it, Betsy knew that she would hear about it.”

When my mom found out that she could no longer work, she couldn’t bring herself to tell Betsy. She had my father call Betsy to break the news.

If you were to leave here tonight without a message, I wouldn’t be doing my best, for there are many messages in her life.

I can’t talk about the last 41 years of my mom’s life without talking about my dad. They were a team. To do so would leave out some of the most important details of her life. After all, they were married for more than two thirds of her life.

My parents embodied the wedding vowels:
“To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.”

In my mom’s sickness, my dad loved and cherished her more than ever. Like in the office, my mom was the boss at home. She gave my dad orders, and he dutifully complied. He was always happy to do so.

They set many examples for me that I will never forget. They put everyone else first and expected nothing but friendship in return.

She loved to doodle. No paper was safe from a pencil in her hand.

No matter how dirty I came home, it was ok; I just might be required to enter the house through the basement.

When I ran Cross Country and Track in high school, my parents never missed a meet. For almost every meet, they brought and dispensed the nutritional needs for an entire team.

A few months ago my mom received the following card from my coaches:

Dear Diane,

Just wanted to let you know we are thinking of you and keep you in our hearts and prayers. Not only are you a wonderful friend, but you are a mother to many, many kids who passed through C. Milton Wright. You and Vern were always there at meets dispensing Gatorade, snacks, hugs, and encouragement. Those legions of kids (and us) appreciate so much all that you have done. Thank you from all of us, and God Bless you.

Barbara & Bob [Johnson]

As we were looking for some items Saturday night, we looked in one of her bags and found the following quote written down. She had dated it September 2, 2006.

“Nothing is more precious then finding a friendship that you didn’t know was lost.” Diana Warnick

As you leave here tonight, I ask you to make sure my mom lives on in you. Show unconditional love to your family and friends. Let your kids get dirty. Do nice things for people and ask for nothing in return. Doodle. But most importantly, live life everyday like you mean it.


A Short Biography of Olga Diana Warnick

Birth:
Born Olga Diana Ewing, on April 20, 1947, in Johnstown, Pennsylvania to Carlisle and Hazel Ewing.

Early Life:
She grew up in Rosedale & Chase, Maryland.
She graduated from Overlea High School, in Baltimore, in 1966.

Sisters:
Linda
Vicki
Dee
Janet

Marriage:
Just over a year later in July 1967 she met Vernon Warnick. Three months later on October 14, 1967 they were married at Lodge Forest Methodist Church. They were married 41 years this October.

Residence:
Vernon and Diana owned two homes over their 41 years, one on Lodge Forest Drive in North Point, and then on Priestford Road, in Churchville, where they have lived the last 31 years.

Two Children:
Lori Lynn, born June 21, 1970.
David Lee, born February 20, 1978

College and Career:
When David started school, Diana decided she wanted to get her college degree. So she went to Harford Community College and started on a degree in Photography. She enjoyed it and if you had a chance to look around the room at some of her work you will see she was pretty good. But it’s a pretty tough gig to make a career out of photography, especially in a rural area like Harford County.

My dad told her about these new things at work called computers. So she changed directions and eventually graduated with an Associate of Arts in General Studies and the first ever Certificate in Micro-Computer Programming that Harford Community College ever issued.

Just before she graduated, my mom landed a part-time job with Jeanette Young Insurance in Churchville. Jeanette convinced my mom to get her insurance license and she worked there until they sold the insurance agency a couple of years later. So with a fresh degree, a crisp new resume, and a Maryland state insurance license, she went out looking for a new job. She worked at a couple of places and finally found her career destiny with Betsy Campion for the last 16 years.

Betsy Campion was the president of Insurco and was soon to become Diana’s closest friend. Through the normal course of business, Betsy went out and started Campion Insurance, Inc. Diana followed her there shortly there after.

Likes:
She loved to read from an early age, one of many loves that she would maintain from its introduction through her entire life.

Diana loved knitting, wood carving, traveling, bird watching, and bike riding among other things.
Really she loved to try anything new. She especially loved her children, her grandchildren, and life.

Aunt Diana,

She was a sister, aunt, wife, mom, grandma, and a friend. She was loving, caring, and a very special person in our lives. She will always be in our heart. She is in Heaven with my Grandparents, her Mom and Dad. She will be watching over us from Heaven, on good days and bad days. If you feel a touch or a chill she is with us.

Let us Pray

By: Jenna Wenczkowski (12 year old niece)




This is a note that my mom’s boss wrote about her:

Dear Diana,

I can’t believe this day has come. Even though we knew this was coming soon, it only gave us a chance to say good bye and let you go; but nothing prepares us for the pain of living without you.

There are plenty of good memories over the 16 years we knew each other. We became best friends right away and shared such happy times and some very sad times with our families over the years.

We met when I hired you to work with me in the insurance business. You were a great organizer and put things in the order right away. When I started my own business 11 years ago you were there to do it again. We had a lot of fun and laughed everyday we worked together.

You were very good with the clients. You always spent time getting to know them and explaining what they needed and why. You became like a mother to many of the younger clients. I remember on several occasions I would hear you on the phone with a young man and you would say “A motorcycle? You want a motorcycle? Does your mother know you are doing this?”

You cared so much about the clients it wasn’t just a job to you. The files are full of engagement announcements, wedding announcements, birth notices and death notices. You always went the extra mile for me and everyone.

Even though you are gone your legacy will live on with your friends and family. You lived your values everyday.

The love and devotion you showed to Vernon and he to you, is an inspiration to all who know and loved you. 41 years of a happy marriage is a powerful example for your family.
The honesty, responsibility, respect for others, humility and hard work that governed your work life was just as strong in your personal life.

You gave that example to Laurie and David & Becky who you are loved so dearly and were so proud of. You adored your grandchildren and bragged about them all the time. You gave them the gift of your time and your love of books.

You showed them love of family. You were a devoted sister. You loved your sisters, their husbands, and children and as well as Vernon’s family, his parents, brother, sister and their spouses and children. You enjoyed all the family reunions and felt it was so important to keep the family history alive.

This is an important legacy you leave your children and grandchildren.

You were a loyal friend to me and the friends you made over the years. You were a good listener and always gave thoughtful advice.

I know you are in heaven and your pain is gone. That is comforting to me and all who love you. We miss you but we will be comforted by the memories we shared over the years.

We will never forget the gift your life was to us.

Love,

Betsy


This is what Pastor Bob Clipp from Grace United Methodist Church in Aberdeen, MD read about my mom:

FUNERAL SERMON FOR OLGA DIANA EWING WARNICK
PSALM 23; II CORINTHIANS 4:16-5:8; JOHN 14

Read and written by Pastor Bob Clipp
Grace United Methodist Church
Aberdeen, MD

We have gathered here this evening to remember and to celebrate the life of Diana Warnick. I met Mrs. Warnick a few times at Grace Church but never had the opportunity to get to know her until I met with her husband Vernon and their son David yesterday afternoon. They talked about a woman who dearly loved her husband, saying that the minute she saw him she knew he was the one for her. They told about her fighting spirit, never wanting to give up in her battle against the cancer that had invaded her body. I learned about her adventuresome spirit that enabled her to learn the crafts of photography, computers, and in recent years her carving. I discovered that she loved to ride bikes, although I believe she holds the record for the slowest speed on a bicycle. They spoke of her love for God’s creation, enjoying bird watching and going on trips to see the wonders of this world. They talked about her love for her family, her two children and her five grandchildren. Over the past year or so, Diana’s life was filled with her efforts to defeat the cancer that had invaded her body. She battled her cancer valiantly, but as the disease progressed, her life became more difficult. On Thursday Diana’s battle ended and she went home to be with the Lord.

Death is never easy for us to accept. We are often filled with the “WHY” question. That is why I chose the scripture from Paul’s second letter to the church at Corinth. In this passage Paul told his readers that the body is mortal, it will fail, and it will die. But he also told them that this body is merely a vessel that houses the essence of who we are. When we die, as we all will, the essence of who we are, the spirit that enables us to be the ones God created us to be, goes home to be with the Lord. As Paul worded it, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” That is the hope that we claim for Diana today. The physical struggles, the pain of this earthly life, have passed away and have been replaced by the ever-present grace of God’s loving Spirit.

The issue that we are confronted with today has more to do with us: Diana’s family and friends. How do we go on from here? How can we pick up the pieces and carry on? Our sadness, our grief can paralyze us. That is where we need to remember that we are not alone. The 23rd Psalm reminds us that even though we walk through life’s deepest, darkest valleys, we should not be afraid. WHY? Because God is with us. Jesus told his followers that he would send another, the Comforter, who would be with them always. The days and weeks that lie ahead will not be easy. There will be reminders of Diana where ever we go. But we do have the promise of God’s Holy Spirit, that Spirit of comfort and strength. Indeed, through the power of the Holy Spirit God will walk with us each and every step of the way. The Spirit will guide us and direct us, and will give us the courage to face each new day. That is the promise of our faith. That is the Good News of Jesus Christ. Thanks be to God. AMEN.