Francis P. Diani

Francis Diani was born in Hudson, Massachusetts to Pietro and Antoinette Diani. He was the youngest of nine children and grew up running around the family homestead with his siblings. After a brief stint in the seminary, he joined the Air Force and served during peace time. It was during this time that he met his wife of sixty-eight years, Frances, who preceded him in death two months ago.
Frank earned an electrical engineering degree at UC Berkely via the GI Bill while working for the post office in Oakland, which led to a job at General Motors in Goleta, and eventually Raytheon, where he worked for 27 years, becoming a Senior Electrical Engineer. Frank and Fran moved to Santa Barbara circa 1960 and bought their home in Goleta in 1962.
Frank was very active with his local Catholic parish, lectoring at Saint Raphael from 1965 to 2017, in addition to joining the Knights of Columbus. He was a member of IEEE, holding several offices, and later in his career earned a Master's in Engineering at Cal Poly SLO. After retiring from Raytheon, he volunteered at Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic (now Learning Ally) for several decades.
It was after retirement that Frank and Fran were able to travel together, and in typical engineer fashion, Frank made a hobby of assembling trip binders with extensive Mapquest notes, local hotels and tourist information for their destinations. In 2015 they traveled to NYC together, splurging on first class tickets, to see where their daughter Stephanie had settled after leaving California. She will be forever grateful for that time with her parents.
Frank and Fran were inseparable in life and the family suspects that will be true in death as well, long may they wander the scenic byways of their afterlife together.
Frank is survived by his son Chris and his husband Steve, his daughter Stephanie and her husband Tim. A funeral mass will be held at San Roque Church with a graveside service to follow at Calvary Chapel Cemetery. Please contact Welch Ryce Haider for dates.
"In lieu of flowers, please donate to Ridley Tree Cancer Center in Frank's memory."