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Diane (Wilson) Flynn

Honor Code Signatory
Signed 27 Nov 2014 | 3,428 contributions | 107 thank-yous | 945 connections
Communication Preferences: I am interested in communicating private message with cousins and anyone else with an interest in genealogy. Here is my family tree.
Diane I. Flynn formerly Wilson
Ancestors ancestors
Sister of [private brother (unknown - unknown)]
Descendants descendants
Mother of [private daughter (unknown - unknown)], [private son (unknown - unknown)], [private son (unknown - unknown)], [private daughter (unknown - unknown)], [private daughter (unknown - unknown)] and [private son (unknown - unknown)]
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Profile last modified | Created 16 Jun 2014
This page has been accessed 2,312 times.

Biography

Diane Irene Flynn was born in the 1930s in Syracuse, New York to Syracuse natives Marguerite Leona Hanifan and Horace Harvie "Red" Wilson.

Her father, a member of the Boy Scouts since he was 14, decided to enter Scouting as a professional. The family moved to Willimantic in Connecticut about 3 years later where her brother Donald was born.

When Diane was 4 years old, her family moved to the West Coast to Los Angeles, California and then to San Francisco where she began the 1st grade when she was still only age 4.

Frequent moves took the Wilsons to the California cities of Oakland, Visalia, Carpinteria and Santa Barbara. Diane attended Santa Barbara Catholic High School and the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she majored in zoölogy and one class short of a minor in German.

To help pay for her college expenses she took a job as a soda jerk at Moe Leiter's Rexall Drug Store. Next door was Jimmy Maddalon and Bob Cormier's Shell gas station where a young man named John Flynn, also a student at UCSB, worked. They began dating when Diane was almost 18 and married at the historic Old Mission Santa Barbara when she was 20 and in her junior year.

Diane and John graduated in January,1959, about 3 days before their first child was born. Diane had completed 120 semester units after only 3-1/2 years in seven semesters. John returned to school to complete the classes he needed in order to earn a general secondary teaching credential.

The couple moved with their first two children from Santa Barbara to the unincorporated community of El Rio because teachers were paid more in Ventura County. They purchased a modest home in the City of Oxnard a year later, 3 weeks before their 3rd child was born.

Ten years after her college graduation, Diane, by now the mother of 5 children, returned to work at the two-year-old Moorpark College as a half-time laboratory technician in physics and geology.

In 1972, her husband left teaching to become an elected member of the Ventura County Board of Supervisors, representing the cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme and unincorporated beach communities.

Diane began an 18-month master's program in environmental studies at a satellite school (California State University, Dominguez Hills), with classes held in the city of Ventura in 1976. That same year, John was defeated and left the Board of Supervisors.

Diane had delivered her 6th child in January of that year and also began to work half time at the fledgling Oxnard College while still working half-time at Moorpark, commuting between the two colleges on her own time. Eventually she moved to Oxnard College full-time and became responsible for lab preparation for all the sciences: Anatomy and Physiology, Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Environmental Science, Geology, Horticulture, Microbiology, Oceanography, Physical Geography, Physical Science and Physics.

In the early 90s she had a two-year hiatus as a research scientist at the Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory where she worked on a team that studied environmental problems on Guam and at Quantico, Virginia.

She retired from Oxnard College in 1993 at age 55 because the workload had become too much for one person. She was replaced by two and eventually three people.

A serial hobbyist, Diane became an avid genealogist in 1994 when four grandchildren were born. Her son had asked about his family's ethnic background and she realized she really did not even know the names of some of her great-grandparents.

Another pastime that Diane has been able to pursue during the past 12 years is philanthropy. Her investments had amounted to unimaginable returns, far more than she needed to be comfortable. Her contributions to charity have nearly reached one million dollars since 2012.


Sources

  • First-hand information. Entered by D Wilson at registration.

Only the Trusted List can access the following:
  • Diane's formal name
  • full middle name (I.)
  • nicknames
  • e-mail address
  • birth location
  • private siblings' names
  • private children's names (6)
  • spouse's name and marriage information
For access to Diane Flynn's full information you must be on Diane's Trusted List. Please login.


DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships by comparing test results with Diane or other carriers of her ancestors' mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA test-takers in the direct maternal line: It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Diane:

Have you taken a DNA test? If so, login to add it. If not, see our friends at Ancestry DNA.

Comments: 11

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Diane, messaged you about tHart-10929.Check your email, or message me back directly. thanks, John
posted by John Stewart
Hi! Looks like we are 8th cousins, and I happened to go to high school in El Rio!
Hi Diane,

We’re so happy you decided to upgrade to the Family Member level. Please visit our tutorial pages to learn how to use WikiTree: New Member How-To pages.

Exploring the site is the best way to learn what WikiTree has to offer. If you have questions, you can always use the Forum ("G2G") link in the Help Menu to ask question/find answers.

Tommy – WikiTree Greeter

posted by Tommy Buch
I'm working on the transcription of the will of John Pettibone, Charity's brother. Will add it in a bit, as well as the very interesting probate.
posted by Kay (Sands) Knight
Hello Diane,

I'm Cindy, WikiTree Greeter. Thanks for joining the site yesterday. Have you had a chance to look around yet? If I can answer any questions, just click my name above this comment and post a message or send me a private message. :-) Most of my own family is from Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Western Maryland; funny how I ended up in Florida! Makes hands on research really hard to do and that is why I love WikiTree so much.

Enjoy your time on WikiTree. I sure do!

posted on Flynn-2882 (merged) by Cindy (Williams) Lesure
hi Diane, please consider loading your raw data onto free gedmatch so we can compare with other company DNA testers
Greetings!

Now that you have had a little time to try WikiTree, there are a few more features you may find useful.

Ideas on what to include in a profile can be found in Styles and Standards, including some tips on writing biographies.

If you need to describe an event, an heirloom or a location relevant to your research, you may like to learn about Free Space Profiles.

Lastly, sometimes you'll run into unresponsive profile managers. We have a process for resolving those unfortunate situations.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask via my profile page.

David ~ WikiTree Mentor *

posted by David Wilson
Hi Diane

I see you uploaded your DNA for comparison. Did you know we have a WikiTree project for DNA where a lot of great new things are happening? You will find it and WikiTree's other interesting projects by using the FIND link top right of most WikiTree pages, select PROJECTS from the drop down box. WikiTree's DNA project has information listed that might be of interest to you, and feel free to contact any of the members if you would like additional details.

You might also like to read the discussions tagged with DNA in the G2G forum.

Happy WikiTreeing

Maryann

Excellent comments, Diane - I am certain you will be a valuable member of the WikiTree.

Welcome aboard! Please sign the Honor Code as Michele suggested and then get started as soon as you wish!

Happy Thanksgiving to you.

Keith Baker

For the past 20 years I have been a family historian, both for my own family and for anyone else who will let me climb their family tree. My goal has always been to help as many people as possible - for free. Some of them have helped me by sharing their family information. Also, I have always promised my genealogical correspondents that I will not share their private family information with anyone else without their permission. I agree with the mission and the nine simple rules of Wikitree.
posted by Diane (Wilson) Flynn
Welcome as a guest to WikiTree! We're growing a FREE worldwide family tree, striving for ONE collaborative profile for every person.

A couple suggestions to get you started:

1. Our Honor Code is a very important part of why our community is such a friendly place to grow your family tree so please take some time to read it.

2. Feel free to ask a question at our G2G forum.

3. Our help pages, top right, have all sorts of useful information.

If you would like to contribute by adding information, click the volunteer button and leave a comment here on your profile to let our greeters know. You should include a little bit about how you plan to contribute to the tree.

Good luck growing your branches ~Michele~

posted by Michele Bergin

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W  >  Wilson  |  F  >  Flynn  >  Diane (Wilson) Flynn