Dyana Lynn Pond Thomas

1956 - 2025

Dyana Lynn Pond Thomas
08/13/1956 - 08/24/2025
Dyana Lynn Pond was born August 13, 1956, into the sweltering Texas heat of a long, dry summer. Austin then was a small town with just 135,000 souls, its streets still carrying the dust of cattle drives and its spirit quickening under the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement. Elvis Presley was about to make his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. President Eisenhower sat in the White House. The Texas Longhorns, licking wounds from a rough 1955 football season, set their eyes on redemption against #15 USC. Into that world, Dyana arrived, the eldest of three children, destined from her first breath to guide her pack like the coyote she would later embody in family lore. She was the daughter of Patricia Ann Peal and P. Edward Pond, both newspaper workers who inked their hands in the pressrooms of the Austin American-Statesman before venturing into family business. From their grit and gumption grew a legacy of entrepreneurs, three generations, dozens of family members, and a way of life that stitched together the Pond and Thomas families. Dyana, with her brothers Scott and Gordon, learned that life was both hustle and poetry. Her greatest muses were Emily Dickinson and Willie Nelson. Dickinson whispered to her that "forever is composed of nows." Willie reminded her to be here "for the good times." Dyana believed both. Childhood meant Austin seasons spent puttering around town with her brothers, a clarinet in her hands and Longhorn games in her heart. She loved telling how her daddy would drop her and Scott at the ballpark with a couple of tickets while he worked an extra shift at the Statesman. The kids baked in the bleachers, orange soda in hand, learning loyalty and patience while doubleheaders stretched long into dusk. In 1978, Dyana graduated from the University of Texas with a Bachelor of Arts in Zoology. She spoke of those years as formative, the time she discovered the power of institutions and how to navigate them. She marched proudly in the Longhorn band, studied hard, worked shifts at Sears in the jeans department, and still found time to pitch in at the family shop. The rhythm of those days - study, work, practice, play - etched into her the belief that you could carry many callings at once if only you led with heart. She married Bob Thomas in 1981, and together they raised three children: Benjamin Robert, Jacob Edward, and Emily Elizabeth Patricia. Their marriage became a school of forgiveness and lifelong growth. Together, they took a small typesetting shop and grew it into Thomas Graphics Inc., a commercial pillar of Austin that served everyone from small-town churches to the White House. Dyana was the soul of the business, the calm strategist, the mediator, the encourager who reminded her family that work done with integrity could ripple far beyond the pressroom. In 2007, Dyana began a new act. She earned a Master of Arts in Spiritual Psychology from the University of Santa Monica and founded The Heart of Forgiveness, a series of seminars designed to heal wounds and unlock joy. She worked with incarcerated Texans and Californians, urban teachers of small children, and women seeking to reclaim their voices. She also managed a successful real estate company and quietly gave her energy and resources to causes that moved her: St. Jude's, The University of Texas, and public servants pursuing truth and human dignity. Volunteering was Dyana's steady heartbeat. She poured thousands of hours into Pflugerville ISD, Austin ISD, and Capital City Village. Through those efforts she taught hundreds of students to read and dozens of older Austinites to retain their independence. Beyond her work, Dyana delighted in life's small and radiant joys: hiking Hill Country trails, biking, puzzling with her children and grandchildren, traveling to art museums, cooking elaborate meals for friends, and laughing until her eyes watered with her beloved circle of friends, the "Women Are Cool" group. Her curiosities filled closets and corners: butterflies, birds, dogs, and figurines gathered into a curio cabinet of memory. Most of all, Dyana loved being a mother. She poured her entire being into her three children and later into her "bonus children," Sarah Starling Thomas, Kirsti Alvarez-Thomas, and Matthew Lurie. Her loyal dog, Thea Pearl, rarely left her side. When Dyana became a grandmother, she showed the family evidence of infinity, that love multiplies rather than divides. Her already universe-wide expansion of love grew even more. She is survived by three grandchildren, Ava Marie and Wyatt Benjamin Thomas, and Meridian Parker Alvarez-Thomas. Every ounce of her love was expansive, unconditional, and generational, a flame she tended carefully so it would never go out. On Sunday, August 24, 2025, Dyana passed away peacefully in Austin, surrounded by family, live music, favorite movies, and the tender care of an extraordinary clinical staff. Her final Texas summer was gentle - graced with rainbows, late-blooming wildflowers, and abundant forest creatures. The Longhorns, this time ranked #1, stood ready to open against #3 Ohio State, and Austin, her lifelong home, had grown from a dusty college town into a global metroplex of nearly a million people. Though dementia stole time, it did not steal love, laughs, or dignity. She spent her last years reading with her children, watching baseball with her grandchildren, exercising with her beloved trainer Nadine, doing arts and crafts with her guardian angel Rebecca, dancing with her best friend Mimi, soaking up love with her cherished caretakers at Riva Ridge, and inspiring everyone with her resilience, bravery, and grace. Dyana Lynn Pond Thomas leaves behind a legacy not just of family, business, and service, but of myth. Her children call her their coyote, fiercely loyal, pack leader, survivor, teacher. She was the matriarch who howled at the moon, carried brothers on her back, reared her children with strength and joy, and taught all who knew her that love, once lit, does not extinguish. It shines brightly into the future. A time of Visitation will be held from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm on Friday, August 29, 2025 in The Chapel of Ramsey Funeral Home. The funeral service will follow at 1:00 pm. The family will hold a private, family only, graveside service.