Diane D. Williams, 60, loved to cook

AS HER FAMILY was waiting in the Slater Funeral Home to arrange services for Diane Deborah Williams, the conversation naturally turned to her cooking.

"People were licking their lips, talking about her cooking," said her sister, Lorraine Huggins. "They especially mentioned her corn pudding, and everybody regretted that there would be no more good cooking."

But Diane Williams was much more than an exceptional cook. She was a carpenter who remodeled private homes as well as her church; a truck driver, and a kind-hearted woman who spent years caring for mentally handicapped adults and lonely children.

"She was one of those people who everybody loves," her sister said.

Diane died suddenly of a heart attack Feb. 20. She was 60 and lived in Southwest Philadelphia.

She was born in Philadelphia to the former Edith Williams, and educated at William Penn High School. She later took courses at Community College of Philadelphia and Temple University.

She studied carpentry and became very proficient at the trade. She worked in sheetrock and marble as well as wood in remodeling homes.

She remodeled the kitchen area of her church, Hickman Temple African Methodist Episcopal in West Philadelphia, doing masonry and building cabinets.

"She liked rough, hands-on work," Lorraine said.

She happily drove a truck for a construction company for a time, making good money. "She said she was making $25 an hour doing that," her sister said.

"Whatever she wanted to do, she would do it."

Eventually, Diane turned her love and compassion to social-service work. She cared for mentally retarded adults for the Step By Step program in Philadelphia.

She took in foster children under the city Department of Human Services and gave "respite care" to children whose parents needed a break on weekends.

She took training courses through the DHS to sharpen her child-care skills.

Although she had a heart condition, Diane never let it interfere with her activities, her sister said. She was always busy. The day she died, she had been out shopping and was planning to go out again.

As a cook "she would feed her family and friends until your stomach was full," Lorraine said.

Although she drew the line at pork, she cooked everything well, and if a family member was having a barbecue, there would be Diane bringing meat and other goodies.

"She fixed food with love," Lorraine said. "Every drop had to be just right.

"She was very generous. She was loving and generous."

Diane joined Hickman Temple in the early '80s. She sang in the gospel choir and was available for anything the church needed.

One of her favorite hymns was "Lord, You Brought Me a Mighty Long Way."

"She was filled with love," her sister said. "She would go around saying, 'I love you. I love you. I love you.'

"She was also quite outspoken. You didn't have to guess what she meant."

Besides her sister and her mother, she is survived by four sons, LouVonte, Vonteze, Atwood and Donteze; two daughters, Andrea and Lenora; four brothers, Leonard, Bernard, Walter and LouVan; eight grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.

Services: 11 a.m. Saturday at Hickman Temple AME Church, 5001 Baltimore Ave. Friends may call at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Fernwood Cemetery in Delaware County. *