Diana Mary McNish

Diana McNish died April 15, 2021 surrounded by family at home in Geneva, Illinois. She departed as only Diana could, defying convention.

Shortly after doctors advised she would remain unconscious in her final days, she woke up to talk to her husband Jim and daughters. When transferred home for hospice care, she raised her fist in victory when wheeled through her sculpture studio. Hours later, on her terms, she slipped away.

Diana was born on Sept. 6, 1930 in Vancouver, B.C., the daughter of John and Elizabeth Crane, one of four children John (deceased), Judy (deceased) and Terry. During summer holidays on Savary Island, Diana’s father would often raise a piece of driftwood, asking his children to describe what they saw in the gnarled wood. The childhood game nurtured a unique lens through which she saw beauty and art in the world’s cast offs.

From an early age Diana was a rebel. Her tart opinions, lethal tennis serve and disinclination to follow social norms made waves at a time young women in Vancouver’s polite society were bound by a web of social conventions.  When her friends came out as debutantes, she opted to become nun. When her father interfered with that ambition, she became a nurse and traveled abroad to work at Royal London Hospital. There she married Jim McNish, also from Vancouver, who was studying at the London School of Economics. During their 65 years of marriage Jim would often reflect there was “never a dull moment” with Diana.

As Jim’s career took them to Canada and the United States, Diana did not let the rapid arrival of four daughters, Jacquie (Stephen), Cathie (deceased), Michelle (Scott) and Rachael (Kelly), interfere with her creative ambitions. She appeared on stage in a variety of community theatres, wrote a 150-page children’s book for her girls, and somehow found time to rescue abandoned furniture that she refinished and repurposed into unconventional furniture. Her wagon wheel coffee table tripped legions of unsuspecting guests.

Sculpture classes in the 1970s sparked her most prodigious creative period. After classical training, she veered from traditional bronze and plaster sculptures to pursue her own path by combining fiberglass, driftwood and other forgotten bits into sculptures of whimsical creatures and historical figures. Her art was shown at galleries and art expositions across North America, attracting the attention of numerous newspapers and magazines. One reporter described her puffing on a wine-tipped cigar as she declared: “I have four unmarried daughters.” Her eldest at the time was 13 years old.

Although Diana has left us, her creative legacy lives on through her daughters, grandchildren Lindsay (Austin), Alexander (Jessica), Harry (Jasmine), Lewis, Brianna, Brogan, Ruth (Sam), Abe, Eve and great-grandchildren Mikayla and Oliver.

Because of Covid-19 restrictions there will be no service for Diana. Instead the family plans a celebration of her life in the coming months when family and friends are able to gather. For those wishing to express sympathies, the family would appreciate a donation to the Kane-South, DeKalb and Kendall counties division of The National Alliance on Mental Illness, which Jim and Diana helped found www.namikdk.org/give

Arrangements entrusted to Moss Family Funeral Home 630-879-7900 or www.mossfuneral.com