Diane Huffman Driskill

Barbara Diane Williams Huffman Driskill was born on November 30, 1937 in “Frog Pond,” Newport, Tennessee. In true Southern fashion, no one called her by her first name, everyone called her Diane. She was granted heavenly wings and regained her angelic voice when she entered heaven before the sun came up June 12, 2024. Alzheimer’s and cancer had been cruel to her, but what stories and songs she can share now! Diane was blessed with two talented and strong parents, Edith and Fred Williams and three sisters growing up: Emily Ball, Jan Fancher and Sherry Sartain Trudeau. Diane’s first love came at an early age…music! She played the piano for Sunday worship at Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church while in High School, and sang and acted whenever asked at community and school events. Also during high school she was active with basketball and as a “marching band sponsor,” because her parents could not afford to rent a band instrument. After graduation she moved to Knoxville as a student and worked as a live-in Nanny while getting her associate degree at Draughon’s Business School. She returned to Newport for employment at Wall Tube and met her second love, Charles Maurice Huffman… everyone called him Diz! After marrying Diz, she moved her life across the street to the First United Methodist Church. She was very involved through the years, singing in the choir, teaching Sunday school, serving on many committees, playing in the hand bell choir, directing the youth, and singing and leading worship at the midnight candlelight service in the Chapel with her favorites, the Arnold family, and eventually earned the title “Cornbread Queen”. Her career took a back seat to her third love, her children: Anderson Kurt Huffman (Tricia Motte), Kristie Diane Huffman (Rick Drybread) and Kellye Elizabeth Huffman (Greg Carson). While raising her family, she sold Mary Kay Cosmetics, was a Girl Scout leader for many years and loved to camp with family and friends in a camper that the family built together. She appreciated a beautifully decorated table, no matter the season, location, or meal served! She spent countless summers teaching Red Cross Swimming Lessons at the City Park Pool, loved her Beta Sigma Phi girls and exhausted herself supporting the high school band program selling popcorn at football games and citrus fruit to the community while creating fabulous memories with her three children at band competitions. She was appointed to the Cocke County Election Commission in 1974. She enjoyed her work, but she more specifically enjoyed the people she worked with at the Cocke County Court House and later at the Court House Annex. Meeting the new people moving into our area gave her an opportunity to share her love of East Tennessee, until she retired in 2004. While juggling teenagers in 1983, Diane lost Diz to ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease (another terrible disease). God placed her next love in her life the following year, Clyde Driskill Jr. Their love was powerful and adventurous! Love and empty nesters can change the world! Diane coordinated Homecoming `86 for Cocke County, held the first Street Festival for Newport, and was a founding member of the Newport Theatre Guild, to which she was appointed President Emeritus. Diane was proud to be part of the first Dead Pigeon River Council and she adored and supported the Stokely Memorial Library. Diane & Clyde were commentators for the first televised Newport Christmas Parade. Her adventures included trips to Mount Le Conte and Mount Denali two different times. Visits to New Zealand and Australia’s Sydney Opera House were among her favorites, but she always came home for Pat Summit and the Lady Vols and time on the lake with Clyde. She was “washed again” in the River Jordan and kissed the Blarney Stone (What will we do with all the photo albums?). Diane was an advocate for love, kindness, and the right thing to do and she wasn’t afraid to tell you what needed to be said! Tragically and quickly, she lost her precious Clyde to a Glioblastoma (brain cancer), but not before becoming “Grams.” The final loves in her life were her three grandchildren: Abbott Williams Huffman Drybread, Devon Charles Huffman Drybread and Olivia Diane Smith. She adored each one of them and passed some incredible DNA down to each of them, in heart, in mind, adventure and talent! Sadly, Alzheimer’s slowly started taking our “Grams.” Experts tell you that Alzheimer’s is a “long and painful death”… That’s truly an understatement! Slow death of your independence. Slow death of your relationships. Slow death of your desires and lifestyle. Slow death of your health. Slow death of your memories… but not all of HER memories! That evil Alzheimer’s didn’t completely take her love of music! She could still hum a note with perfect pitch be it from a musical or classic gospel!! Her final years have been spent with some incredible humans at Wellington Manor who through the years have become good friends and a lot like family. If you want to honor the life of Barbara Diane Williams Huffman Driskill, please don’t send flowers. Make a difference and make a donation in her name to Alzheimer’s research, ALS research or Cancer research. Even better… Go have an adventure in her memory and send the family a photo! She was cremated per her request and the family will hold a private burial at a later date. Family and friends may sign the guest register online at www.manesfuneralhome.com. Arrangements with Manes Funeral Home.

Diane Huffman Driskill

November 30, 1937 - June 12, 2024