Diane Copeland

Diane J. Copeland of Londonderry, passed away at High Pointe House in Haverhill, MA on Wednesday evening, December 22, 2021, after a brief battle with Metastatic Lung Cancer. Diane had only been diagnosed on November 30.

Born in Dorchester 69 years ago, the daughter of the late Henry “Hank” and Marion (Malaney) Danowski, Mrs. Copeland was a member of the Class of 1970 at Woburn High School in Woburn, MA. She attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison for one year before returning home to Massachusetts. Diane started her career with New England Telephone as a Switchboard Operator at 19 years-of-age. She worked her way up through the retail side of the company, managing “Phone Center Stores” in shopping malls throughout New England. As the company phased out their home retail operations, Diane was sent back to school to learn about computers and became a Computer Systems Troubleshooter on mainframes in the mid-1980’s. She was offered an early retirement package during one of her company’s many reorganizations and she retired at the age of 44 in 1996 as an upper-level Manager in the Burlington, MA location. This allowed her to care for her late Mother full-time until her mother’s passing in 2000.

Diane enjoyed listening to music, playing her beloved Martin guitar, reading anything she could get her hands on, visiting the lakes and mountains of New Hampshire and Maine, and spending time with her friends and family. She leaves behind her best friend and life partner Paul Sherman, Paul’s son John Sherman, his wife Rita, and their son Connor, all of Londonderry.

Diane was a devoted Mother to her only child, Kyle Copeland, Kyle’s wife Rachel, and their dog Emma of Center Ossipee. Diane and Kyle shared more than striking good looks and a proud Polish heritage, they shared passions for live concerts, swimming at the lake, saw the world through a similar lens, and spent much of their time together laughing – often at inappropriate times. This remained true through her final weeks with Kyle by her side doing anything he could to help her with the pain and successfully fighting to get her better care in hospice. Diane knew how unconditionally she was loved before she passed peacefully without pain.  

There will be a small private lakeside family service in May. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Diane’s name to Trees for the Future at www.trees.org. Assisting the family with arrangements is the Cremation Society of NH, Mancehster. To view Diane's Online Tribute, send condolences to the family, or for more information, visit www.csnh.com.