Diane Marie O'Sullivan

Diane is the fourth of the eight surviving of the ten children of Margaret and Brendan O’Sullivan, otherwise known as “Tootie”. Her Grandpa Watson gave her this nickname and it stuck for her entire life.  She was born in Westlake, Ohio on  18 November 1959. When she was entering 7th grade, the family moved to Columbus, Ohio.  She made a close knit group of BFFs (best friends forever) in her short two year stay in Columbus.  She fit right in with her natural athletic ability and easy laughter. Her friends say she was really good at Greek Dodgeball.  Remember the Presidential Fitness Award? She got that, too.   She was so thrilled about it, she framed the certificate and hung it on her wall for decades.  Even after moving to our farm in Nova, Ohio in the ninth grade, she kept in touch with her Columbus pals. After she got her driver’s license, she would pick up her friend Teresa in Columbus in her baby blue VW bug.  They sang their little hearts out with Bob Seger songs all the way back to the farm.   

While in high school, she also enjoyed playing softball, being with friends, and discovered that she wanted to pursue a profession  rather than prepare for college.  She found her calling. The vocational school had a cosmetology program and she dove right into it.   Her new skills, enthusiasm, and her ability able to talk to anyone about anything landed her a job with the Charles Penzone company in Columbus, Ohio.  She very much enjoyed helping clients with their beauty needs  and was very talented. Everyone benefited.  She could strike up a conversation with anyone in seconds. Before long, they would be telling her their life story! 

After struggling with a chronic back condition, she retired from  Penzones to focus on the restaurant business.  She co-owned  and operated 3 Subway restaurants in the Hilliard, Ohio area with Todd Clark. More health problems arose however, and to escape the Ohio winters that aggravated her condition, she retired to the warmer weather in Naples, Florida around 2012.  In the past, she had traveled to Siesta Key and Naples. One of her best friends, Lisa, lived in Naples.

Any circumstance she happened to be in usually ended in laughter;  telling someone to put on his “big boy” pants then gets reminded how she is living at her parents’ house in a tiny bedroom with clothes in bags;

Crashing her friend Teresa’s friends wedding on a cruise ship to Jamaica and entering a dance contest; swimming with the dolphins;  going to the Isle of Mirada, Mexico and Grand Cayman Islands with Lisa; trying to find her lost shoe at a Walmart, laughing up and down the aisles; being part of a birthday club for over 30 years.

Her independence was stifled a bit with sudden, unexplained blindness.  She got rid is her car and depended more on her BFF, Lisa, and caring neighbors for her transportation.  Her chronic heart, and lung issues, coupled with neuropathy in her feet, and blindness, were a real struggle. She still persevered.  A couple years before Diane’s death, her younger sister, Alice, came for a short visit —-and stayed permanently.  Diane dearly loved Alice.  With many friends in Florida and family near and family far, Tootie lived the rest of her life.

She is preceded in death by her grandparents Jerome and Mary Ellen O’Sullivan, William A. and Mary Ellen Watson; parents Brendan J. and Margaret L. O’Sullivan; brother Barry J. O’Sullivan; sister Alice M. O’Sullivan; niece Neta M. Kadey;  uncles Bernard Watson, Joseph Watson, David O’Sullivan, Jerome O’Sullivan, Christopher Gaskin, John Reardon; aunts Sr. Marie Gilbert, Ann Watson, Patricia Reardon, Eileen O’Sullivan, Oonagh O’Sullivan, Phyllis O’Sullivan, Babs O’Sullivan, Madeline Gaskin, Finola O’Sullivan; her school chum Julie Minnig Broom; and her three dogs “Guinness, Poppy, and Holly”;  and anyone who has been forgotten.

She is survived by siblings Brenda L. (William) Driscoll, Loretta O’Sullivan Powell (Al Daum), Sheila M. O’Sullivan, Robert J. (Michelle) O’Sullivan, and Julie M. (Andrew) Skoog; favorite Aunt Mary O’Sullivan; Uncle Denis O’Sullivan;  cousins William Watson, Kevin Watson, Lynn Watson;  Irish cousins Paul O’Sullivan, Jordan O’Sullivan, Chantal O’Sullivan, Nicole O’Sullivan, Michael O’Sullivan; sister-in-law Beth O’Sullivan; nieces Madeleine (Jeremy) Tatarzyn, Elizabeth Kadey (Brian) Dorsey, Mary Ellen (Austin) Reeves, Andrea Skoog, Samantha  O’Sullivan, Megan O’Sullivan; nephews Michael O’Sullivan, Jeremy O’Sullivan, Robert Powell, Matthew (Jackie) Kadey, Robert Skoog, Thomas Skoog, Brendan O’Sullivan, Nicholas O’Sullivan; and grandnieces Presley Neta-Jeanne Kadey and more; and grandnephews David O’Sullivan, Leland Matthew Kadey, Theo Kingsley Kadey and more; special mention Zoe South, Nirvana Ward, Neil Kadey; Florida friends and neighbors; Lisa Coker, John Madden and “Slam, the fish” -so named by Alice-, Phillip, Charlie, Bill, Lily, Michelle and others; Ohio friends; her Columbus chums; Teresa Callaghan Limatta, Pam DeSantis Rounds, Tierney Thomas Reiner, Bridget Barrett Reid, Michelle Bernard, Lisa Jentgen Coker as previously mentioned, Candy Eck; Todd Clark (ex-husband); and all the people and animals only known to Diane.

If you would like to help Diane (Tootie) and/or honor her memory, please send Mass intentions and/or contributions to:

Our Lady of Victory Catholic Church 

St Vincent de Paul Catholic Church 

St John the Evangelist Catholic Church 

St Cecilia Catholic Church 

MAY TOOTIE AND ALL THE SOULS OF THE DEPARTED, THROUGH THE MERCY OF GOD, REST IN PEACE. Amen.