Diane Blake
Longtime San Jose resident Diane Fawson Blake passed away peacefully on September 2, 2025, in Alexandria, Virginia, surrounded by family.
Born in Rexburg, Idaho on August 9, 1941 to Heber LeGrande (Lee) Fawson and Laura Elnora Skelton Fawson, she grew up in Pocatello, Idaho, with her older sister Lauralee, who she loved to laugh with and stayed close to her entire life. Her childhood was filled with fond memories of helping her parents at their successful Fawson Music Company store on Main Street.
A 1959 graduate of Pocatello High School, she was a member of the Gate City Singers, Drill Team, Thespians and the National Honor Society. She attended college at the University of Idaho, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in drama and was a member of the university’s cheer squad and the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. She continued her education at the University of Oregon, earning a Master of Arts in Theater in 1965, then moving to the Bay Area to teach English and drama at Los Altos High School and later at Willow Glen High School.
While attending the Stanford Young Single Adult Ward of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she met a dashing Navy pilot, Raymond Gay Blake, who swept her off her feet after flying his jet into town to attend a singles dance. They were instant sweethearts, marrying on August 11, 1967 in the Salt Lake Temple after a long-distance courtship. Ray retired from the Navy and took a job with Pan American Airlines soon after their nuptials, and they built a home in Almaden Valley, where Diane loved living until recently moving closer to her children in Virginia. They traveled the world together as a young couple, with highlights including a literal around-the-world, multi-leg Pan Am flight and a season tagging along with the Los Angeles Dodgers—including a trip to the 1973 World Series—when Ray was employed as the co-pilot of the team’s private Boeing 720 aircraft.
Diane’s idyllic life was shattered in 1983, when Ray was tragically killed in a plane crash while flying for Transamerica Airlines in the African nation of Angola. Suddenly a widow with three young boys, she pressed forward with faith and hard work, using her talents to provide her sons with all the love and resources she could muster. A fearless, independent woman, she never sought to remarry, choosing instead to selflessly focus on her children. She singlehandedly and expertly managed every aspect of her complicated life and home while simultaneously nurturing her sons’ very male interests, from helping them build pinewood derby cars to driving them to remote fishing holes.
Reentering the workforce upon Ray’s death, she expanded an after-school song and dance school/troupe, The Sundance Kids, that she had recently started and ran for the next decade. Hundreds of girls aged 6-18 first learned to dance and perform under Diane’s tutelage and have beautiful memories of performing around the Bay Area to appreciative audiences. She eventually returned to teaching, substituting for San Jose Unified School District and Almaden Country School (ACS) while running musical theater camps during the summer where she put on productions of Oklahoma and other major musicals. In the late 1990s, after her final son left for college, she took on the full-time role of Office Manager at ACS, where she was the personable, organized, problem-solving face to the ACS community for over a decade.
Blessed with a deeply creative and artistic mind, in addition to being a talented actress, dancer, choreographer, writer, and public speaker, she became an award-winning quilter in the second half of her life. She designed, pieced, and quilted hundreds of original quilts, table runners, and wall hangings, bringing joy and love to brides, new mothers, and countless friends over the decades. She found great satisfaction in the creative process and the many friendships she made in the local quilting community. Her many quilts remain as lasting physical tokens of the warmth and beauty of her soul.
A lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Diane was a devoted follower of the Savior, performing countless acts of service for people in need, often in secret. She faithfully served in dozens of church roles throughout her life, including as a Relief Society president, teacher, music leader, and as the director and creative force behind San Jose South Stake’s road shows, talent shows, and full-scale productions of such musicals as Hello Dolly and Bye Bye Birdie, providing lifelong memories for thousands. After she retired from ACS, she served a full-time mission at the Oakland Temple, where she enjoyed inspiring views of the San Francisco Bay and reflected often on her temple marriage to Ray, longing for the day, now realized, when she would be reunited with him for eternity.
Diane is survived by her three sons, their wives and her eight grandchildren: Raymond Brian & Rebecca (Miner), Brandon, Trevor, Colin, and Kate of Lorton, Virginia; Kevin Charles “KC” & Sarah (Monson), Annette, Bradley, Christopher, and Penelope of Alexandria, Virginia; and Jeffrey Lee & Ariana (Zambrano) of Midvale, Utah. They will all miss visiting their entertaining “Grammy Bee,” whether in Almaden or at her beloved Fawson Family condominium in Sun Valley, Idaho.
The family wishes to thank all the neighbors, ward members, and friends who loved and watched over Diane over the years, particularly as her health declined. She loved Almaden and was blessed to stay in her home for as long as she was because of your angelic concern and care for her.
A funeral service for Diane will be held on Friday, October 3, at 11am at the Almaden Valley chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, located at 6625 Camden Avenue in San Jose, after which she will be laid to rest next to her beloved Ray in Los Gatos Memorial Park.