Diana Lynn Kaiser's Obituary
Diana “Lady Di” Lynn Kaiser, of Tallahassee, Florida, passed away with her daughter, son-in- law, and partner by her side on August 6, 2022. Diana was 63 years old. Diana is survived by her mother, Helen Kaiser of Port St. Lucie, FL; her daughter and spouse, Kelsey and Mikael Mikaelian of Tallahassee, FL; her siblings and their spouses, David Kaiser of Naples, FL, Holly and Michael Mackey of Hollywood, FL, and Andrew and Jennifer Kaiser of Stanford, KY; her nieces and nephews, Kirk Kaiser, Michael Kaiser, Amanda Kaiser, Christine Mackey, Macy Kaiser, Emma Kaiser, Grace Mackey, and Lauren Mackey; her grandchildren, Callie and Maxwell Mikaelian.
Diana was born in February 1959 in Louisville, KY, to loving parents David and Helen Kaiser. They lived in Kentucky through the 60’s, before moving to South Florida. Growing up, Diana learned how to play musical instruments like the piano, violin, and bass. In recent years, she tried to reconnect with her musical roots by taking piano lessons. She was rather proud of how well her piano playing was coming along and looked forward to learning more.
She met her first love, Russell Mitchell, in South Florida. Russell and Diana shared an affinity for the water, where they spent their days boating, scuba diving, and going to the beach. Russell and Diana also rode motorcycles and attended Daytona Bike Week on multiple occasions. Russell was a fireman and a part time event security guard. As event security, Russell was able to get Diana into an exhaustive number of concerts, including the biggest musical acts of the 80s and 90s. Acts like Madonna, Michael Jackson, the Police, and many others. She had a love of music, which continued later in life with a fondness for Bruno Mars and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine. She often referred to Bruno and Adam as her boyfriends.
Diana and Russell had a daughter, Kelsey, in May 1989. Kelsey turned out to be Diana’s pride and joy, where she excelled at everything she did. Diana often discussed how Kelsey was one of a handful of children that got accepted to a Magnet school with a Marine Biology program, where there were many activities related to marine life in South Florida. In high school, Kelsey was a star pitcher for a traveling fast pitch softball team. She had the option to play softball in college, but decided to focus on academics.
Russell passed away in 2003, leaving Diana heartbroken and a single mother to Kelsey. Diana and Kelsey moved from South Florida to Tallahassee, Florida, where Kelsey studied Nursing at Florida State University. Kelsey ultimately graduated from Florida State University with a doctoral degree in Nursing. Diana was always extremely proud of her daughter and would do anything for her.
Diana started working, in the Compliance Group, for Amadeus, successor in interest to Amadeus IT Group, in 1979. In 1985 she moved from the Compliance Group to the Legal Department working for Edna Lopez. As her career progressed she also worked for Philip Nicholas and Jorge Reynardus; these individuals were very special to her. Diana also met one of her closest friends, Mary Stewart, at Amadeus. Together Diana and Mary had many adventures, often resulting in Diana returning home injured. In 2022, Diana reached the pinnacle of her career being promoted to the Director of Legal Affairs. She absolutely loved her job and the people she worked with. It was a highly rewarding career, spanning over 40 years. One of the last things she said, in an effort to lighten the mood was, “I don’t have to go to work tomorrow.”
Diana was a very generous person, and as the saying goes, never met a stranger. She loved being around people and trying to help whenever she could. She was proud of her time as a Guardian Ad Litem in 2012, where she helped children in need. This led to her volunteering for 4H in 2014, where she taught sewing. She would talk about how proud she was of the kids and their creations. At 4H, Diana met one of her closest friends, Evelyn Gonzalez. Evelyn was a good friend and was with Diana in her final days. Among her other social activities in Tallahassee were the Quilters' Guild and the Woman’s Club.
In recent years, she met her boyfriend, Jeff Kaperak, at a mutual friend’s Halloween Party. Together they had many adventures attending theater, concerts, traveling, amusement parks, and even cooking. Diana was one who said she could cook, but didn’t care much for cooking. She made an awesome sausage gravy and macaroni & cheese. She and Jeff enjoyed cooking classes at Publix Apron’s and Brown’s Kitchen. She even participated in Jeff’s baking endeavors, acting as his sous chef. The two of them had a lot of fun.
In May of 2020, Kelsey had their first child, Callie. Diana became a doting “Glam-ma” to her “Glam-baby”. She adored Callie and referred to her as her precious angel. Diana took every opportunity to hang out with her granddaughter. In July of 2022, Kelsey had their second child, Maxwell. Again, Max was a most welcome highlight to Diana’s life. She completely adored those children and would have done anything for them. She was also very proud of her Kelsey and Mikael and everything that they have accomplished.
Diana was one of the most loving, caring, and generous people you could ever meet. She exuded a lust for life and experiences. She loved being around people and hated not being a part of the action. She often called herself the Sun Goddess and adored being at the beach or in a chair by the pool. She loved the outdoors and gardening. She would spend hours working the soil and was always proud of her flower beds. She was indeed a force to be reckoned with and will truly be missed by all who knew her.
A Celebration of Life for Diana will be held on August 28, 2022 from 1-4PM at The Woman’s Club of Tallahassee (1513 Cristobal Dr, Tallahassee, FL 32303). In lieu of flowers, please donate to the American Cancer Society ( https://www.cancer.org/involved/donate.html ) and dedicate your donation to Diana Kaiser.
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