Dianne W. Holmes

Dianne W. Holmes, was born Billie Dianne Williams on June 18, 1937, in Malad City, Idaho. She was the only child of Lester J. and Edna Mae Williams. As a child, Dianne traveled with her parents around the U.S.A. as her father, a carpenter, worked constructing facilities for the DuPont Corporation. She lived in Indiana, Kentucky, and the Hanford Reservation in Eastern Washington.

In 1948, the Williams family returned to Pocatello, Idaho to live permanently. Dianne attended elementary school, middle school, and high school in Pocatello, graduating from Pocatello High School in 1955. That same year, Dianne attended Idaho State College as a freshman.

While at ISC, Dianne majored in Psychology, Social Science, and Education. She also worked as a secretary to Professor Black, Head of the Psychology Department. Dianne graduated with a BA in Education-Social Sciences in 1959. Later that year, she enrolled in the first graduate program in the School of Education, obtaining her MEd in 1962, one of the first to receive this new degree from the then newly formed Idaho State University.

While attending ISC, Dianne was a member and office in the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, a member of the SPURS organization, and President of the Associated Women’s Students. Dianne was also active in the Speech and Dramatics Department.

After graduating from ISC, Dianne was employed as a teacher at the Alameda Junior High School in Pocatello, until she joined her husband Garth Holmes in Munich, Germany. While in Munich, Dianne taught at the North Munich Nursery School. The next several years took Dianne to Colorado Springs where she taught at a local high school, back to Alameda Junior High School, and then to the American High School in Heidelberg, Germany.

After returning to the U.S.A. in 1975, Dianne went to work at the Garret Heyns Education Center in the Washington State Correction Facility near Olympia, Washington. Dianne taught at the Education Center until 1991 when she retired due to a medical disability. Dianne passed away in Olympia, Washington on March 6, 2001 at the age of 63. Dianne was survived by her husband Colonel Garth H. Holmes, US Army Retired, also a graduate of ISC, two daughters, Zan and Shannon, and a granddaughter Miranda. It was always Dianne’s wish that a scholarship endowment be established, to aid a deserving student in the College of Education. Her wish has now come true..