Diane Louise (Silva) George, Aug 3, 1943 – May 30, 2018

Obituary published in the East Bay Times, Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Born on Tuesday, August 3, 1943, in Hayward, California, Diane Louise (Silva) George was the daughter of the late Louis Anthony Silva and Doris Ann (Gonsalves) both of Hayward. Diane died on May 30, 2018 from complications of ovarian cancer in Fremont, California. She is survived by her husband of 36 years (married February 14, 1982), William Cullison George Jr. Diane is survived by three brothers, Ronald Joseph Silva and his wife Patti (Todd) of Hayward, Thomas Anthony Silva and his wife Patricia Marie (Casey) of Manteca, California, and Louis Andrew Silva and his wife Sandra Marie (Brikovich) of San Ramon, California, as well as numerous nieces, nephews and other family.

Diane was born in Hayward Hospital on A Street in 1943. She went to Colonial Acres Elementary school (1 door down from her home), then Edendale Jr. High and graduated from San Lorenzo High in 1961. As an honor student she entered San Jose State College for two years, then bank teller work in Hayward to save for more college and graduation from Cal State Hayward with a B.A. in 1966. Diane applied to Alameda County, with an aptitude for either probation officer or programmer. The Alameda County Probation Department offered her a job first. After six years as a probation officer, Diane noticed many peers were attending law school. So, with her savings and decent grades, she applied to and graduated from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall, School of Law in Fall 1976 with a J.D. Upon passing the California Bar Exam the 1st time, she started working for an attorney in San Leandro. A process server (long time future friend Bill Wakeman) told her that an attorney, Burt Hamel in Hayward, was looking for a woman (women being more reliable) associate, so Diane's 25 year legal career began in marital and landlord/tenant law in Alameda County. She appeared as a replacement small claims court judge occasionally and did presentations on how to network a law office to the California State Bar Association. Diane retired in 2000, but became restless, and decided to go back to work. She took a job at Cal State East Bay in their Student Health Department as a computer analyst and helped install an electronic medical record system. Diane retired for good in 2011.

In 1979, good friend David Koutney introduced Diane to the magical TRS-80 microcomputer and she joined the local TRS-Nybblers group. There she met future husband Bill George (a programmer analyst for Kaiser Permanente) during her Software Committee meetings. Bill managed to marry Diane, the only unattached female member of the group on February 14, 1982. They lived initially in Hayward, then Castro Valley in 1985, for the rest of Diane's life. In July 1988, they started PC Clubhouse Computer User Group, later renamed PC Community, which still meets after 30 years in Hayward. Diane had many hobbies such as photography, cooking, miniatures, doll houses, cross-stitching, Bob Ross-style painting, micro-computers and networking, websites, poker, cruising and her final passion, genealogy (specializing in Azores genealogy, her heritage from both parents). Active in several local genealogy and computer groups, after her second retirement, Diane taught genealogy classes in Alamo for the San Ramon Valley Genealogical Society and Microsoft Office and genealogy classes for the Castro Valley Library. Diane loved playing poker and played regularly at friend's homes, at the Castro Valley Moose Club, Reno, Las Vegas and on cruises.

A celebration of her life was held on July 14th, 2018, in Pleasanton, California. Loved by all who knew her, Diane made the world a better place.

Diane's ashes were placed in a Cremation Memorial Bench on January 3, 2019, next to her parents, uncles and aunts in Hayward's Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Holy Redeemer, Row 29, plot 86.