Dianne W. Cancian, 70, died on May 2, 2021, in Virginia. Born Dianne Wunn, she grew up in Estherville, Iowa. She graduated salutatorian from Estherville High School and earned an associate’s degree from Iowa Lakes Community College. She then attended Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in nursing and entered the US Army Nurse Corps. She was stationed in Washington DC, Okinawa, Japan, and Georgia. Upon leaving active duty, Dianne earned a master’s degree in nursing at Boston College.
During her career, she taught nursing at Boston College, served in the Army Reserve, headed a ward at Children’s National Hospital, co-directed a project on pediatric AIDS, and worked as a school nurse.
In 1980 she married Mark Cancian (then a Marine officer, now a senior scholar at a Washington think tank). Together, they raised two sons, John (a Navy orthopedic surgeon) and Matthew (a PhD candidate at MIT), and a daughter, Caroline. In 1989 they settled in Arlington VA. She was deeply involved with her children’s education, her community, and her church.Her love and devotion to family will be remembered by her husband of 40 years, two sisters (Debra Bode and Denise Wunn of Milford IA), three children, and five grandchildren.
A funeral Mass will be held at St. Ann’s Church, Arlington VA.
