DIANE MERRILL KRAZYNSKI
09/13/1931 - 02/06/2024
Diane Krazynski (formerly Diane Bonaparte) of Yorkville, Illinois passed away on February 6, 2024 with her daughter Susan by her side, after a period of declining health. She was born on September 13th, 1931 in Fort Lee, New Jersey as Diane Elizabeth Merrill to parents Marguerite and Willard Merrill.
Diane spent many of her childhood years living in Fort Lee with her maternal grandmother Jeanne Deshusses, her Aunt and Uncle Martha and Charlie Keane, and her cousins to whom she was very close Jeanne and Nanette Keane. She graduated from Fort Lee High School in 1949. Marguerite later married Arthur Caldwell and Diane was blessed with two younger half-sisters, Yvonne and Jeanne.
In 1947, Diane met WWII veteran Rudolph (Rudy) Bonaparte and they were married in February 1950 at Corpus Christi RC Church in Hasbrouck Heights,
New Jersey settling there through the birth of their four children. Diane was a wonderful and loving wife to Rudy, fantastic mother to her children, and caring friend to so many more. In 1964, the family moved to Allendale, New Jersey where they lived happily for several years. In
July 1969, Rudy passed away from sudden heart failure. Her tremendous strength and resolve as a person were revealed in the following years as she raised her children while taking on employment to help make ends meet.
In 1972, through neighborhood friends, she met Leonard (Len) Krazynski whom she later married. Shortly thereafter, Len, Diane, and the younger two of Diane’s children moved to the Houston, Texas area (first Bunker Hill Village, then Sugarland) where Len established the Texas operations for a national engineering consulting firm. There, they happily made their home for the next nearly 40 years. Diane made many good friends in Texas and she took up golf, often playing with Len and her friends at Lakeside Country Club. She and Len enjoyed travel throughout the U.S. and Europe. She also rejoiced in her ten grandchildren and five great grandchildren, all of whom fondly knew her as Mimi. In Texas, she became active at St. Cecilia Catholic Church and then at St. Laurence Catholic Church. A few years after Len’s passing in 2011, Diane moved into her older daughter Nancy’s home and lived with her. As Diane’s physical health slowly declined, Nancy took great care of her mother, spending countless hours caring for her, until Nancy’s death in February 2020 from cancer. Diane then moved to Yorkville, Illinois to live with her younger daughter Susan, and Susan’s husband Bob. They too took great care of Diane as her physical health continued to decline. Through it all, her sons, Rudy and Joseph, were frequent visitors to Sugarland and then Yorkville. Notwithstanding her physical ailments, Diane remained mentally active, daily reading books and her beloved Bible and always being devoutly Catholic.
Diane was preceded in death by her parents, her first husband and father of her four children, Rudy Bonaparte, her second husband Len Krazynski, her daughter Nancy, and her step-son Scot Krazynski. She is survived by her older son, Rudy Bonaparte
(Anna), daughter, Susan Thomas (Bob), younger son Joseph Bonaparte (Christine), ten grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren. She is also survived by her half-sisters Yvonne Parisi and Jeanne Nielsen.
Upon Diane’s passing, her son Joseph wrote “She was beautiful inside and out, a caring, loving, kind, and giving person who made friends wherever she went. She has always been there for me both through calm waters and stormy seas. I love my mom dearly and will miss her terribly.” These are sentiments shared by all who knew her.
The family plans a private service at a later date with interment next to her husband Len at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston, Texas. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in Diane’s name to the charity of your choice.