"As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job's perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy" (James 5:11, The New International Version ).

Born in Huntsville, Alabama on Monday, June 20, 1955, Dianne Townsend was the youngest of six daughters and the penultimate child born to the union of John B. Townsend and Arcie Studdard Townsend. Throughout her life, she was the quintessential "baby sister" and the next- to-last child who becomes the "boss of the family" in terms getting her own way, a role she relished to the hilt. From day one, Dianne was "the speeder" striving to overtake her siblings. Preceding and outflanking her eight sisters and brothers to the end, Dianne hastened, firstly among them, to the heavenly realm into the presence of the Lord she worshipped and adored Friday evening, December 18, 2020.

The Townsends named their sixth daughter in the brood "Diane," which means "heavenly and/or divine." As she matured, she, as strong-willed as ever, eventually took to spelling her Christian name as " Dianne ." Even so, she was one of 115 persons named " Dianne Townsend" living in the United States, but she was inimitably one of a kind, and dearly beloved and cherished by her immediate family and friends.

Dianne was a whirlwind of activity and audacity, especially on Saturday evenings, when the Townsend household was a veritable beehive of activity. But Arcie always brought order out of chaos. She developed a technique of having them bathe on Saturday night and straightening and fixing the hair of her six daughters so the big family wouldn't be late for church on Sunday mornings.   Above the fray, Dianne was enchanted by her mother's hairstyling ritual, telegraphing her lifelong interest in hair design, hair braiding and cosmetology.

Dianne loved to eat and she treasured those gatherings around the family table. After-church dinner was a much anticipated event in the Townsend household. It took place after Sunday School and the Sunday morning worship services. The children were always ravenous and couldn't wait to dig into the most festive and sumptuous meal of the week. They savored those home-cooked, no-fuss meals their mother whipped up in the slow-cooker on Saturday nights to have lunch and supper ready on Sundays. True to form, Dianne was the last to leave the family table, yet the first arrival there in the pecking order. Then they piled into the station wagon and headed back to church for Bible classes and the evening worship services. Afterwards came supper, scholastic homework, the drudgery of evening chores, and bedtime prayers.

Dianne graduated from James Oliver (J.O.) Johnson High School, which opened in 1972 in the northwest area of Huntsville. She was clever, intelligent, wise beyond her years and eager to make her way in the world. She matriculated at Calhoun Community College in Decatur and enrolled in its Cosmetology program. Dianne obtained state licensure in the field with the Alabama Board of Cosmetology & Barbering. She entered the work force, and as time went by she held jobs in different fields, with hair care (big cornrow braids, and natural styles) as her specialized side gig. She worked as a machine operator at Technology Molded Plastics in Decatur, Alabama. At the time of her besetting illness, Dianne was an employee of Mitchell Plastics in Huntsville.

Yet Dianne was a seeker, embarking on a lifelong quest for a deeper and richer spiritual relationship with God and the Christ of God. Although she confessed Christ as her Lord and Savior at an early age at the Taylor's Chapel Primitive Baptist Church under the pastorate of Elder James Lane, she was later concerned about and questioned her soul salvation. After much soul-searching and discussions with her parents, a determined Dianne sought out Pastor Lane, and asked to be baptized again.

This time for Dianne , it became her verifiable great sign and seal of her identity as a born-again Christian and as a member of the forever family of the saints of God. Dianne lived out her "new-birth" experience. In the words of I Corinthians 15:58, as paraphrased, her watchword was "Therefore,  my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."

For a number of years, Dianne Townsend served as the Assistant Secretary, and then from the turn of the century to the edge of her illness, as the Secretary of the Sunday School Ministry at Taylor's Chapel P.B. Church. Here she labored in the Lord's vineyard and ministry venue alongside her mother, who was the longest serving Sunday School teacher at the church; her sister Thelma, who served as the Superintendent of Sunday School; and her sister Clara, who also taught Sunday School classes. Her father was the longest serving associate minster at the church.

Dianne was fulfilling her spiritual legacy. The Taylor's Chapel Sunday School Department was reorganized as an "educational institution for the younger people in the church" in the late 1940s and early 1950s by her great-uncle Freeman Studdard, then the Superintendent of Sunday School. She was also devoted to the Baptist Training Union (BTU) and the Young People's Congress at Taylor's Chapel.

With a host of other church members, Dianne also served on the 100 ^th church anniversary committee for the centennial of Taylor's Chapel in 2004. Until the time of her protracted illness, Dianne was a fixture in the sacred precinct of Taylor's Chapel, where her ancestors also worshipped.

Her maternal great-grandparents, King Studdard, an original member of both the Deacon and Trustee  Boards for the church;  and  Minerva Studdard,  an original member of the Mother's Board; and her great-uncle, Deacon Freeman Studdard, were among the founding families of Taylor's Chapel Primitive Baptist Church in 1904. The center row of burial plots in the Number Four Hall-Taylor's Chapel Cemetery were reserved for the members of the founding families of the Taylor's Chapel Primitive Baptist Church, including the Studdards, explains Patricia Lane Bullard, the church historian.

Dianne was "given to hospitality" in the words of Romans 12:13. When her relatives visited Huntsville, she would rush out and fill the trunk of her car with watermelons and big bags of popcorn for all-night card games of Spades. She lavished her guests with dinners from soul-food restaurants, while she regaled them with her wild storytelling, and her extravagantly exaggerated accounts of actual events. Many of her jokes were at her own expense, referring to herself in third person as "Brick House," a term popularized by a 1977 hit song by The Commodores.

To supplement her love of great preaching she purchased and collected sermon albums, such as "Watch Them Dogs" by Rev. B.W. Smith, and repeated them verbatim during her chores and while driving around. Dianne treasured the whoops and hollers and the call and response of the Black Church.  The only thing Dianne enjoyed more than a good laugh, a hardy-har-har, and a hearty meal at her favorite restaurants, was her profound love and intense joy for her family and her Lord.

There was, of course, a softer side of Dianne , which earned the love of everyone she knew. Dianne loved deeply and had a missionary zeal for caring for her ailing relatives while they were in extremis .  Her compassion was nothing short of extraordinary. At the time of their father's passing, Dianne became gravely ill from the complications of diabetes. During her long ordeal, which included the amputation of both legs, Dianne never complained about her condition. She fought valiantly, and during this crisis she grew stronger in her faith with an "unyielding degree of patience and conviction of the love of God." In the face of intense suffering, she never questioned or doubted God. Her natural born doggedness, obstinacy and lifelong tenacity and resolve comported her well. But it was more than this. Dianne "endeavored to persevere."

Through it all, she knew she was blessed. You see, Dianne knew in her heart of hearts that by virtue of remaining steadfast under trial and by persevering in her faith in God, she would someday soon "receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love Him" (James 1:12). Dianne often said she was eternally grateful for the extraordinary care and watchfulness provided to her by each of her siblings, with such sororal devotion and a congenial love that spanned the test of time, and especially so by her devoted nieces, aunt and cousins by the dozen, and by her medical team and fellow church members.

When she was perennially on the sick and shut-in lists at Taylor's Chapel in her latter years her visitors, friends, relatives and her devoted church family marveled at her fortitude, faith, perseverance, persistence and otherworldly stamina and endurance. As James writes: "Indeed we call blessed those who showed endurance. You have heard of the endurance of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful" (James 5:11).

Dianne Townsend was predeceased by her parents, Elder John B. Townsend. Sr. and Arcie Studdard Townsend.  She leaves to mourn her passing her tight-knit siblings: Lorenzo D. (Annie) Townsend, Esq., Beverly Louise Townsend Hammonds, Linda Faye Townsend Courtney, Glenda Kaye Townsend (John) Woods, John B. (Frances) Townsend II, Dr. Thelma Marie Townsend, Clara Lynn Townsend Appleton, and Anthony Dwight (Valarie) Townsend.  She is also survived by her aunts and uncle: Margaret P. Dawkins and James (Joyce) Pearson; plus a host of cousins, relatives, kith and kin, and friends. She was "Auntie Dianne " to an array of nieces and nephews, all of whom she loved more than life itself, including Tonya Woods, Esq., who was like the daughter she never had.

Funeral service for Ms. Dianne Townsend will be at 12:00 p.m. Sunday, December 27, 2020 at the Nelms Memorial Funeral Home Chapel with Elder Dr. Mario D. Ford officiating.  Interment will be in Penny's Cemetery.