Diana Dean McVay-Boswell

Diana Mcvay-Boswell died in the early morning hours of June 20, 2025, with her sons and husband by her side. After years of battling MBC through an endless stream of procedures, chemotherapy, drugs and operations, she finally simply could no longer endure the tremendous pain that the drugs could not abate. She died how she lived, with quite strength dignity and worrying about her family, her last words to her husband were to take care of her babies.

In life Diana was quick to smile and was always, always happy. She was a great influencer for good and love. To know Diana was to love her and to be loved by her. She softly and quietly led by example always finding the good in everyone and expecting nothing in return. Diana grew into the role of the family matriarch, watching over, loving, protecting, encouraging and at times gently scolding her husband, 3 children, six grandchildren, managing family vacations and Sunday dinners, trips to the park or movies. She was all about her family. She stayed close to and had individual relationships with each of her grandchildren. They knew they could always count on Grandma-Di. They would tell her things they would not tell their parents. Her great joys came from spending time with her "babies" whether it was a summer Tuesday movie, the pumpkin patch, school shoes, or a family vacation, Di was always there. One of her greatest joys came from her last vacation to Alaska with the entire family. She was planning another but runout of time. Her heaven will be filled with dozens of grandkids and dozens of German Shepherd Dogs running around a big house making a huge mess.

Diana was often overlooked and understatement, but she had a lion's heart and tremendous inner strength and accomplished much. As a young single mother, she had little support or assistance. She worked long hours in the fields while raising her boys, and later working as a secretary she was able to complete a bachelor's degree. Although highly discouraged from applying by both family and the Department of Corrections, she became one of the few female guards at the time. She initially suffered great indignities from her coworkers for being a "woman in a Man's job". But through it all she excelled and gained respect and had a successful career, working 25 years for the Department of Corrections as a guard and finally as a counselor. Her life was well spent in service to others, and her family was her epicenter. She defined family very broadly, if she knew you, she loved you. If she loved you, you were family.

In retirement she loved to travel. Road trips to anywhere were always on her list. She had some great travel buddies on many of her trips. She saw 38 countries along with 25 states and all with wide-eyed child-like enthusiasm, being delighted and surprises by each new place. She recognized that nothing was a given, and appreciated even the simplest things. She was never disappointed, even when things didn't go as planned, she would just smile and say, "it's all part of the adventure", and it was! She would wander through cities all over the world, meeting kind and gracious people far off the tourist paths. In these out of the way spots people, particularly children would seek her out just to meet her or stand by her and the children would want to hold her hand. She had an adventitious soul, and although many things scared or challenged her, she did them anyway. She always wanted to be an example for her grandkids...showing them that "you can do It!" She highly valued education and hard work and never missed an opportunity to encourage/nag her grandbabies to go to school.

Diana is survived by her husband Marc Boswell;

Sons Christopher and Jonathan Barber, daughter in law Heather Hendrickson-Barber and their three children, Zoe, Christian and Johnny Barber.

Stepdaughter Michelle Palmer, Son in law Matthew Palmer, and their children Ethan Palmer, Noah Palmer, and Mikinah Wilson; Logan Palmer and Americus Hawkins and a great son Declan,

She also is survived by a very large extended family, some connected by blood and others by love.

So, while we mourn our great loss, we can smile and remember that as bad as this is, she would just smile and say "it's just part of the adventure".

She didn't want a service, eulogy any flowers or other crap.