DIANA CAVALLO

Diana Cavallo was my fifth grade teacher at a Jewish school in Brooklyn in the school year 1959-1960. She was the greatest teacher I had in my life, and I've had a few excellent ones. Her lectures on diagramming sentences were inspiring. (I later had a career as chief of English proofreaders at the UN.) She taught with a full range of fun and variety, including skits in which we had to play different animals. She was outgoing and friendly, and I remember her strolling with my mother and me on...

I was a student of Diana's in New York, where I became friends with her for many years and then later with Karl too, through their courtship and beautiful marriage. Diana was one of the most loving and caring teachers I ever had and anyone who had the privilege of knowing her will feel a bit emptier from her passing.

My first encounter with the great Diana Cavallo was as a student of her Advanced Fiction Writing class at Penn. She made mincemeat of my writing while at the same time encouraging the points she found to be superior to "any other writing she had seen". I earned a 4.0 for that one and took the course again. With Diana, there was always more to learn. She was a great teacher, a fine artist in her own right, and an unstinting champion of the work of her late husband, Karl Hagedorn. To know them...

Riposa in pace

Diana, you were a dear friend, who was like an aunt to me. I will always miss you, and will hold our shared memories in my heart.