Diane Marie Payne was born on July 9, 1945, in Glennonville, Mo. Her parents were David Payne and Anna Marie Peters. She was baptized the day after she was born, in St. Teresa Church in Glennonville. She was later confirmed on October 5, 1952, in the same church. She was raised by her grandparents, John and Alma Peters. She worked on the farm with a large group of aunts and uncles.
Diane Marie attended elementary school at St. Teresa School in Glennonville, where her teachers were Ursuline Sisters from Mount Saint Joseph. For high school, she came to Mount Saint Joseph Academy, where she graduated in 1963. Shortly after she graduated from high school, she entered the Ursuline community on September 7, 1963.
Sister Diane Marie spent all her ministerial years in Kentucky, with the exception of one year as a pastoral minister at Holy Name of Jesus Parish in Mobile, Ala., in 1994-1995. Her early ministries were as a teacher’s aide and then a teacher.
She then served as pastoral minister for 10 years at St. John the Baptist Parish in Fordsville, Ky. She stayed in this ministry at several parishes and later helped with pastoral care at Mount Saint Joseph.
She also served as sacristan at the Motherhouse from 2007-2009. In 2010, she became coordinator of the Saint Angela Oratory at the Mount. After working in the Oratory for a while, she stated, “I am starting now to bring the Sisters from the Villa over to show them what a rich and valuable history we have and to get to know Angela, Ursula and Mere Marie. This is truly Holy Ground.”
Sister Diane Marie retired in 2016 and helped as a receptionist at the front desk. Her health slowly declined and at age 75, she died on November 19, 2020, at Mount Saint Joseph in her 56th year of religious life.
In compliance with health and public safety directives, all services were private.
The funeral was at 10:30 a.m. November 23, 2020. Burial was in the convent cemetery.