NARDINI, Elizabeth Diane

A woman of great faith was called home on Sunday, May 8, 2022. Diane was born on June 11, 1950, to Edgar Thomas and Glenna Pearl Kirkendall, she was the third of six children. Diane spent much of her youth in church services, studying the Bible, memorizing scripture and growing in her faith under great pastors and teachers. Seeing her first vision of the Holy Spirit at age 12, God was preparing her to be a teacher. In 1968, Diane married and the following year, she began her greatest teaching role - as a mother of three. Throughout our lives, she never failed to pray over us, speak life into us, sing scriptures into the conversations - and she always told us of Heaven. While raising three children, Diane was joint owner of several moving and storage companies, she obtained her real estate license, and became a successful realtor in the Dayton area. Diane began a new life, on her own, in the early ’90s. She stepped into new leadership roles in the moving & storage business and later as the office manager at a dentist office - it was there that she met the love of her life... Michael Nardini. She and Mike married in 2003 and have walked side by side ever since. Much of their time has been spent enjoying the mountains of Tennessee, with family and friends and traveling. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, Diane and Mike traveled to Israel in 2019. They walked the same streets as Jesus and his disciples and were baptized together in the Jordan River. They made wonderful friends and Diane loved to share stories of their trip and her desire to return. Diane often considered her great homecoming and being reunited with those who have gone on before her: Her parents, brothers Eddie and Bo (James), her sisters Carole and Patti and her grandson Jackie Ray. She is survived by her loving husband Mike Nardini, sister Linda Graves, children Mike and Sandi Merrick, Kelli and Nick Bitner, Brian Merrick, Angie Nardini and Christina and Stephen Presley, 10 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren, sister-inlaw Deborah Bartone, devoted friend Kathy Bowen, and the ladies of the Agape Bible study. Diane’s faith and role as a teacher have drawn many to Christ. Her legacy will continue through her family and friends. Her heart’s desire was that everyone she met saw Jesus and chose Life and Blessings... Deuteronomy 30:19. A Celebration of Life service will be held at 11:00 am, Sunday, May 15, 2022, at the Agape Family Worship Center, 4111 Maple View Drive, Beavercreek, OH 45432 with Pastor Mark McVey officiating. Interment will follow at Dayton Memorial Park Cemetery. The family will receive friends at the Morton & Whetstone Funeral Home, 139 S. Dixie Dr., Vandalia on Saturday, May 14, from 4- 6 pm. If so desired, memorial contributions may be made to Shoes for the Shoeless, P.O. Box 41655, Dayton, Ohio 45441 in Diane’s memory.