Hattie Dianne Durrant Tonge

Our beautiful mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, Dianne Tonge, passed peacefully on August 1, 2023, after a short illness. She was the essence of kindness and love in every measure of her life. Her spontaneous sense of humor was a joy to family and friends. She loved to laugh and was fully engaged in the lives of her loved ones.

Dianne lost the love of her life, Charlie, just nine months ago after 68 years of marriage. She has always been known for her positivity, joy, and laughter, but losing Charlie has been difficult. Her love of life became a yearning to join him on the other side. Her heart has been broken over the past months, but now it is mended. She is where she wants to be.

She is survived by her four daughters – Julie Humphrey (Dane), Sandy Dearden (Daniel), Christy Bartlett (David), and Marcie Maughan (Jason) – eleven grandchildren and sixteen great grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Doyle and Joseph, and son-in-law Dane Humphrey (Julie).

Dianne was born on August 22, 1935, in Salt Lake City to Alvin Ezra Durrant and Marie Curtis. She grew up during hard economic times and her father died when she was just fifteen years old. Her mother supported three children, and they pulled together to make things work. She graduated from West High School on June 4, 1953.

Charlie saw Dianne for the first time at a Salt Lake drug store sitting at the soda fountain. It was love at first sight, at least for Charlie! Dianne was seventeen at the time, still in high school, and not hasty to date the handsome Korean War veteran. But Charlie was nothing if not persistent, so he enlisted the help of Dianne’s best friend, Joyce, and convinced her to go on a date. Her mother, Marie, initially said, “You are not going to date a Tonge!” All things came together, however, and Dianne married Charlie in her mother’s home on January 28, 1955. They were later sealed in the Salt Lake Temple on August 4, 1971. Her friend Joyce also married Dianne’s brother, Doyle, and became family.

Dianne and Charlie began their lives together in Salt Lake City, and his Union Pacific Railroad career led them and their daughters to Chicago, Idaho Falls, Atlanta, and Las Vegas. Upon retirement in 1988, they made a final move to Daniel, Utah in the beautiful Heber Valley to be back in the Wasatch Mountains and near their children.

Dianne was an amazing seamstress and award-winning quilter. Over her life she has knitted hundreds of comforters and gifted them to family, friends, and acquaintances. She made most of her daughters’ clothes and all four of their wedding gowns.

Dianne and Charlie were two of the first missionaries to serve in the new Nauvoo Temple for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2002. They also served in the Timpanogos and Provo Temples for a combined fifteen years of service. Dianne became an accomplished genealogist during the last 40 years of her life.

The Viewing and Funeral Service will be on Tuesday, August 8, 2023, at Heber Valley Funeral Home, 288 N. Main Street, Heber City, Utah – Viewing at Noon, followed by the Funeral Service at 1:30 PM. Interment will be at Heber City Cemetery, 680 North 550 East, Heber City, UT 84032.