Diane McCullough Ristau

Diane L. McCullough Ristau, 48, of Lakewood, Ohio, died Monday, May 17, 2004.

She was born May 4, 1956, in Washington, a daughter of William and Erma Koehler McCullough of Washington.

Mrs. Ristau was a 1974 graduate of Trinity High School and a 1978 graduate of California University of Pennsylvania.

She taught at West Liberty (W.Va.) State College and earned a medical technology degree in microbiology in Cleveland, Ohio.

Mrs. Ristau was a member of St. Thomas Lutheran Church in Rocky River, Ohio.

Surviving, in addition to her parents, are her husband, Walter R. Ristau; a son, Kevin; and a daughter, Megan; two brothers, Bruce McCullough of Philadelphia and Richard McCullough of Coatesville; and a sister, Nancy Tobar of Copley, Ohio.

(Her brother, Bruce McCullough, Class of 1976, sent word that she passed away after an eight-year battle against colon cancer. He also passed along the following reminisces:)

In July 1969 when Diane was 13, she visited Allegheny Observatory to see the 30" Thaw refractor telescope (the third largest in the world at 47 ft long & 8000 lb weight) which was positioned on Mare Tranquillitatis; Neil Armstrong's landing site. She had to climb 20 open steps in order to view it. Diane said, 'no way, was she going to miss this'. She also saw the 30" Keeler reflector, set on Saturn and the 13" Fitz-Clark refractor, set on Mars. Normally the telescopes are set up for photography work and you don't usually get to see them.

In 1971, the Tri-County Band had been playing the last Sunday in August, at the town park in Carmichaels for many years. To gain experience, Diane and three other Trinity Band students attended that performance for the first time.

We didn't know that there also had been a competition. Later, when asked what schools were represented and by how many; Jefferson Morgan District and Trinity were tied for third place. They gave the trophy to Diane for Trinity and told Jeff Morgan that they would get them a similar trophy. Diane was so happy to deliver that trophy to Jack Seibel for the benefit of Trinity High School.