Barbara Dianne Willhite

Barbara Dianne Willhite was a beloved mother of Heather and Traci, a Bank Teller, an Army wife, a loving Grandmother of 5, and a loving Great Grandmother of 2. She was born on November 20, 1944 and passed on October 2, 2024 at age 79. Her last few years, she lived with her daughter Heather and Jonathan Nesbitt in Wylie, Texas. Most of her life, she lived in Oklahoma City and Norman. Dianne's mother's maiden name was Bernice Sweeney. Her father was Henry Poland (maiden name). Dianne was mainly raised by her grandparents - her grandmother Nora loved to cook for her. Dianne graduated high school at NW Classen in OKC in 1963, and went into banking, where she worked as a teller and a loan officer. Dianne met banker Louise Willmette who introduced her to Louise's son Larry Willhite. Larry and Dianne married on Nov 5, 1965. She gave birth to Traci and Heather 5 and 8 years later. Dianne later married Sammy Lovelace and divorced in the mid-90s.
She was independent in the last half of her life and loved spending time with Louise Willmete, her Aunt Betty Neal, her kids and grandkids. She retired from Tinker Federal Credit Union in 2016. Her favorite activities were helping people with auto loans, spending time with her daughters, seeing and co-raising her beloved 5 grandchildren Landon Willhite, Taylor Joline, Kashlie Olson, Brooklyn Wright, Caiden Wright, and 2 great-granddaughters from Landon (Tegan, 6 and Payton Willhite, 5), Church, and spending time with her mother-in-law Louise who went on many walks with her. Her aunt Betty Neal was like a second mom. She was an army wife to Larry, who was a national guardsman and became a green beret. Dianne was independent after the mid-1990s. She is survived by her daughter Heather who cared for her in the post pandemic years with Heather's husband Jonathan in the Dallas area. Her legacy is daughters Heather Nesbitt, Traci Simmons and Perry Simmons of OKC, grandchildren by Heather: Landon & Taylor, and Landon's daughters (great-grandchildren) Payton and Tegan Willhite, Traci's three daughters Kashlie Olson, Brooklyn Wright, and Caiden Wright. Dianne's sister-in-law, (Larry's sis) Jana Crews now lives in Georgia with Louise "Mawmaw" Willmete, age 96.
Dianne and Heather enjoyed time with Tegan Willhite (age 6) and Payton Willhite (age 5) the last few years. Payton, called Dianne "ol' mom mom". See Tegan's lovely drawing of Dianne, Heather, Tegan, and Payton.
Her faith led her through liver and colon cancer in 2004-2009 and she then thrived and loved her family and community for 20 more years until liver disease flared but was managed from 2021-2024. Her life was full and extended beyond most by her faith, by oncologist Bryan Geister, and later by Heather and liver physicians. She was a devout Christian.
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