Diane Digit was born May 18, 1959 in New York City. She was adopted from the New York Foundling Hospital by Frank (aka Bud) and Agnes Digit and joined older brother Joseph and a warm and loving extended family of Digits and McEvoys. Diane loved her Irish – Italian heritage and was a proud New Yorker.
Diane was raised in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York where she attended Our Lady of Fatima Catholic School from first through eighth grades. Diane's kindness, great laugh, and renowned sprit of adventure brought her meaningful friendships that began at Our Lady of Fatima and continued through schools and jobs and villages and plane rides and just about anywhere Diane could strike up a conversation.
Her High School years were spent at Dominican Commercial High School where Diane was elected class president for all four years and also elected Student Council President, the highest office a student can hold. Diane graduated in 1977.
Diane continued on to Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York where she was involved in a wide variety of activities – crew team, theatre, student council, disc jockey at the college radio station, reporter on the school newspaper, amongst others. Diane was the recipient of the Community Service Award and served as a Residential Advisor in the freshman dorms. Diane graduated in 1981 with a BA in Communication Arts. She was listed in Who's Who of American College Students.
Diane was hired right out of school by the Press and Publicity department at WABC-TV New York. She walked into her interview at WABC in a beautiful white suit smeared with soot caused by a bus that had splashed her on her way in. She said: "I know I must look like a mud ball, but I really really want this job." She got it and quickly became a valued member of the team.
Diane worked closely with some of WABC-TV's top talent, writing press releases, bylined press articles and cultivating press and promotion opportunities for the channel. Diane's energy and positive outlook was very disarming even with the strongest of personalities. She was very well-liked and respected for her work. Many of Diane's WABC colleagues became lifelong friends, reconnecting in later years in jobs in Washington, DC and London.
In 1987, Diane relocated to Washington DC where she joined the team of WDVM-TV which became WUSA. Diane's title was Public Relations Manager for this CBS network affiliate. Diane was instrumental in marketing the programming, personnel and community services on both a local and national level. Diane also had a key role in Public Relations for WUSA-TV's parent company, Gannett Broadcasting.
While in Washington, Diane met and married Jay Rebouche, a United States Air Force officer who specialized in satellite imagery. Jay's work brought them to England and to the village of Grendon in Northamptonshire. Diane loved the green fields and rolling hills and soon fell in love with the open space and big skies of the English countryside. Diane and Jay chose to live in Grendon because it was in-between Jay's base assignment and London where Diane sought work.
Diane sent her resume to The Walt Disney Company and was quickly offered a position as head of press and publicity for the rapidly expanding international television division. Diane's role expanded rapidly too and she became the Director, then Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Disney International Television.
Sadly, Jay died unexpectedly in early 1996. Diane was deeply appreciative of the support she received from Jay's colleagues in the military as well as her family, friends and colleagues from around the world. Diane faced another loss with the sudden death of her adored father Bud Digit in 1998. Despite her grief and sadness, Diane continued to look on the positives of life and committed to live every minute to the full. Her vitality and zest for life will always be her hallmark.
Diane decided to remain in England and her contributions to Disney continued to grow. Diane's brief was to oversee the press for all Disney TV activity outside the United States and support all Disney TV distribution and production teams by developing sales presentations and organising sales conventions. She travelled extensively as she supervised teams in London, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong and directed the PR for the launch of Disney Channels in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Germany, and Taiwan.
Diane also acted as the Corporate Spokesperson for Disney International Television and maintained extensive contacts with journalists around the world. In 1995, Disney announced its takeover of ABC and this allowed Diane to reconnect with old friends from ABC, especially those who joined the ABC London news bureau. Diane chose to leave Disney in 2001 after an enormously successful career spanning a tremendous growth phase for the company.
In Spring 2003 Diane met Tim Cornes and - after going bowling and then dinner and being the last people to leave the restaurant - she knew she had found her soul-mate. Tim and Diane quickly became engaged and married on January 3rd 2004 in Stowe, Vermont. She was given away by her brother Joseph and attended by her sister-in-law Alison Digit. Tim's brother Joe was best man and his sister Becky, nieces Dana and Melanie were readers at their fairy tale winter wedding.
After her wedding, Diane continued her efforts to make contact with her birth mother. Her mother Agnes fully supported her in this quest. With the help of the New York Foundling Hospital Diane learned that her birth mother had passed away some years earlier, but Diane was able to make contact with some of her birth mother's relatives and she and Agnes met them for a delightful tea.
Diane enthusiastically joined Tim's family business, Beckett's Bacon, supporting Becky in the marketing area, developing new product ideas, and calling on grocers throughout England for store checks and research. Diane loved to say that she had traded in the Cannes TV Festival on the French Riviera for the pork sellers convention and that she could not be happier.
Diane and Tim returned from a holiday in Nevis in 2005 with a big announcement: They had bought a house. Not just any house, but an old plantation home from the 1700's with extensive grounds that had become overrun. Together they have renovated the house and gardens of Butler's House. Diane described their efforts in her blog "A Dream; Now Shared." Nevis became a place of peace and calm and sanctuary for Diane and she says in her blog "Tim & I realized that-like owners before us- we are caretakers, ensuring Butler's will be around for many generations to come."
Diane became unwell in the Spring of 2011. It took sometime before a diagnosis of aggressive endometrial cancer was reached. Diane faced this challenge with courage, with grace, and the unshakeable determination that she brought to everything she did. Diane embraced the Penny Brohn Cancer Centre approach to healing on all levels – spiritual and emotional as well as physical. She pursued both conventional and holistic treatments, always fully supported by Tim, the greatest advocate any patient could ever wish for.
While she was fighting her own fierce battle, Diane lost her beloved mother Agnes who suffered a massive stroke at the end of May. Last autumn Tim had surprised Diane by flying Agnes to meet them in the Caribbean and Agnes had also made an extended Christmas visit. Agnes and Diane spoke by phone every day. Agnes was 88 when she died.
Diane managed to maintain a positive outlook throughout her illness. She never complained and always found something she could be grateful for. Despite immense discomfort she always asked after others, checking on them and their own challenges, which paled next to hers.
Diane's determination to beat the cancer took her to the Klinik St Georg in Bad Aibling, Germany. Despite tremendous efforts by the wonderful team there, Diane lost her battle on July 30, 2012. Tim and his mum Sue were able to be with her. Diane was at peace.