Dianne pursued her passions for travel, adventure, the outdoors, and service with enthusiasm and heart. She lived a truly full and rewarding life.
A Vancouver native, Dianne was one of few women graduates of UBC’s Faculty of Agriculture (1966) where she majored in soil microbiology. Though her life she continued to take courses at UBC in Asian Studies, Philosophy and Nutrition,
Dianne was vibrant and fun woman, an enthusiastic cyclist, hiker, and backpacker with a true sense of adventure. She met her husband and lifelong adventure companion Bill as a member of the Youth Hosteling Association hiking club. An intrepid traveler, Dianne visited remote and exotic destinations where few travellers ventured at the time – Yemen, Syria, Bangladesh, Samoa, Afghanistan, and remote areas of northern Canada being just a few.
Dianne dedicated much of her life to serving others, both locally and internationally. Twice she was a volunteer with CUSO International. First in India in the late sixties, where she ran a Red Cross food distribution centre and later worked as a lab technician in a hospital for people with leprosy. Later, in the eighties, she was the East New Britain provincial nutritionist in Papua New Guinea where she would go on two-week foot patrols to isolated mountain villages. While living in Seattle, Dianne volunteered to teach English as a second language at a local high school. There she met a young, unaccompanied, Vietnamese refugee named Wei Lam and became his foster parent. As a lover of animals, she was a volunteer in animal shelters and adopter of problem animals. As a volunteer at Vancouver’s Sun Yat Sen Garden, she shared her love of the garden with visitors.
Dianne’s spirit and boundless energy will be greatly missed by her family and friends around the world, in particular her husband Bill Qually, brother Perry, her foster son Wei Lam (Trinh), his two sons Stirling and Benjamin, and her niece Robyn (Lucas) and nephews, Fraser (Jaclyn), Blair (Rachael), Bruce (Lori), and Chris, brother-in-laws Don (Kathy) and Ron (Marney). Dianne was predeceased by her parents, Isobel and Rex, and sister Lynn.
In lieu of flowers, please donate to Doctors Without Borders.
Nos plus sincères sympathies à la famille et aux amis de Diane Lillian Goldsmith May 8th 1943 April 24th 2021..
Décès pour la Ville: Vancouver, Province: Colombie britanique