SHAWNEE — Diane was born on July 26, 1942, to Walter Thomas Smith and Faye Lucille Smith (née Erickson) of Radium, Kan. and died on July 28, 2022, in her home in Shawnee, Kan.
She earned a degree in liberal arts from Wichita State University. She then moved to New York City to be near her brother Brad and earned a master’s degree in social work from New York University and worked as a child welfare social worker in the New York City Bureau of Child Welfare. In New York, she met her husband, Robert Feldt, and after living in Staten Island, New York for five years, she returned to Kansas with her husband and her two stepchildren, Nathan and Kristina.
In Great Bend, she worked as a social worker at The Center for Counseling and also had a private clinical practice. In addition, she was a fieldwork instructor in social work at Fort Hays State University. In the 1980s, she and her friend, Jeanette Fabin, co-owned The Gourmet Shop, a specialty
food grocery and kitchen store in Great Bend.
After her marriage of 44 years ended, she relocated to Shawnee to be closer to her two sons and grandchildren. She was everyone’s favorite Nana Banana Granny Di. She always had snacks for the grandchildren and their friends and was always willing to go anywhere and do anything at a moment’s notice!
Diane continued to live in Shawnee for the next ten years. She was passionate about yoga classes and even went on to earn certification as a yoga instructor, an accomplishment of which she was enormously proud. She later traveled to Tuscany, Italy for a yoga retreat to complement her education. Diane also loved aqua aerobics, gardening, reading, writing poetry, playing scrabble, and dog sitting. But most of all, she cherished spending time with family and her countless friends who loved her. In her final week, while she was home in hospice care, many of her friends had the good fortune to say their goodbyes in person.
Diane is survived by her three children, Nathan Feldt (Marsene), Kristina Kitts (Michael), Max Feldt (Nancy); and her grandchildren, Maverick and
Atticus Feldt, Lauren and Spencer Kitts, Nora, Silas, and Calvin Feldt; and brother, Brad Smith.
A Celebration of Life in remembrance of Diane Feldt is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 20, 5:30 - 7:30 p.m. at The Overland Park Arboretum and Botanical
Gardens, 8909 W 179th Street, Bucyrus, Kansas. Contributions can be made in Diane’s name to Safehome at https://safehome-ks.org/donate.
Great Bend (Kan.) Tribune, Aug. 14, 2022
