Diane Szymanski Gugerty

MADISON - After a life dedicated to serving others, on Aug. 31, 2024, my beloved spouse and devoted mother of Alice Rose and Amy Marie succumbed to the impact of metastatic cancer that first manifest its presence on Aug. 20, 2024. She lived a life of empathy and compassion, manifest in her advocacy for those facing intellectual or other learning challenges, emotional distress or homelessness. Her effectiveness was enhanced by her ability to perceive what was needed and create, organize, and deliver effective responses to those needs. She displayed her organizational and interpersonal skills early in life when as a young grade schooler, she recruited neighborhood kids to develop and perform a play for a neighborhood audience. She refined those skills through high school and undergraduate college years, and enhanced them by attaining a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pittsburgh in 1974.

She began her professional career at the Singer Zone Center (later called Singer Mental Health Center) in Rockford, Ill. There she was responsible for the community placement and integration of developmentally disabled adults. As part of this effort, she noticed a major unmet need: adults with intellectual challenges had no safe place to socialize. Bars or similar venues presented grave risks of sexual or other physical assault, harassment, or exploitation. In response, Diane organized a weekly coffee house gathering, which was staffed totally by volunteers. In addition to weekly gatherings, the participants enjoyed periodic potluck meals and dances. It was there that she met her future husband, John Gugerty, a fellow volunteer.

After marriage, she relocated to Madison, Wis., to be with her husband, who was employed by the University of Wisconsin. In Madison, she continued her mission of service and advocacy through employment and volunteer efforts at a number of organizations, including a program that provided support to developmentally delayed adults as they learned to live independently. She followed this with a program that provided advocacy and support for adults with intellectual or other learning challenges as they pursued postsecondary vocational/technical education, as well as support for parents or guardians of those individuals. Her paid employment also included stints with the Learning Disabled Association-Wisconsin, as well as co-directing a state wide project that was competitively funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and serving as a counselor with the Wisconsin Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.

During her daughters’ progression through grade school and middle school, she volunteered in their classes during grade school and served as co-president of their middle school’s parent association. The time needed to provide this support for Alice and Amy in school was facilitated by the flexibility afforded by the business she established and operated during that period. Entitled Creative Solutions, its focus was providing organizational consultations, professional development, and advocacy for participants who wanted to enhance their skills in improving the independence, career preparation and success of youths and adults with learning and behavioral challenges.

During her “free time” she greatly enjoyed interacting with her family, engaging in her love of plants, both indoor and outdoor, and voraciously reading several genres of fiction. She also wrote an historical romance novel.

She closed the paid professional chapter of her career with a ten-year effort coordinating the RSVP in Dane County Foster Grandparent Program. This entailed recruitment and support for very low-income elders who wanted to volunteer with needy kids in the younger grades, in exchange for a small stipend that supported their effort.

Her focus on service to those in need did not end with the conclusion of her paid employment. Upon noticing that military veterans faced difficulties returning to civilian life, connecting with educational and employment opportunities, or dealing with post-traumatic stress (PTSD) issues, Diane set up a Facebook group entitled VetConnect. The group’s focus was to share resources, support individuals in need, and help participants feel that they were not alone. VetConnect also focused on providing suicide prevention resources available for both veterans and non-veterans alike. Through her interactions with VetConnect members and local community groups and agencies, Diane learned that veterans also faced serious problems of homelessness and food insecurity. To contribute to existing efforts to alleviate the food insecurity portion of these needs, Diane established a volunteer group of VetConnect members and other interested individuals to provide an extensive buffet style meal once a month to homeless individuals in Madison. This effort was provided under the auspices of the organization Friends of the State Street Family, a group of volunteers dedicated to meeting immediate needs of homeless individuals. The VetdConnect group provided these meals for seven years, serving between 65 and 170 people each month.

Diane’s impact on others can be described best by the following quote from a family friend upon learning of her death:

My heart is broken for you-for us. Diane was such a bright, giving and joyful delight in a world of darkness and cynicism. She personally kept me going on some of the harder days of early  with her patience, humor, and deep understanding of the human condition. She held space for people and allowed them to ‘just be’ with her by her side. She was truly authentic and lit up the room with her spirit. I miss her so much already. The world was a better place with the knowledge that she was in it...now it is not feeling so bright.

The oldest of seven children, she was preceded in death by her parents, Alice and Herman Szymanski. She is survived by her husband, John; two daughters, Alice Rose and Amy Marie; and six younger siblings.

In keeping with her wishes, there will be no funeral nor memorial service. We will hold a celebration of her life at a later date. If you would like to honor her memory, you can make a donation in her name to either of the following organizations that serve people in need:

Retired Senior Volunteer Program of Dane County (RSVP) Foster Grandparent Program

RSVP of Dane County

6501 Watts Road, Suite 250

Madison, WI 53719

Friends of the State Street Family

PO Box 2399

Madison, WI 53701-2399

For detailed information about each, including online donation options, go to the following web sites:

(www.rsvpdane.org/programs/foster-grandparents/)

or

(fssf.org/)

Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.

Gunderson West

Funeral & Cremation Care

7435 University Ave.

(608) 831-6761