Phipps, Diana K.

Diana K. Phipps, 61, of Iowa City, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2009, after a long and courageous battle with breast cancer. Funeral Mass will be 4 p.m. Tuesday at the University of Iowa Catholic Newman Center in Iowa City, with the Rev. Ed Fitzpatrick officiating. (Sunday parking ordinance will be in effect for the streets around the church.) Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. today at Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service, where a parish vigil service will be at 7 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made in her memory to Kirkwood Elementary School or the Newman Center.

Online condolences may be sent for her family through the Web at

Diana K. Leighton was born May 27, 1948, to Robert and Una (Roseland) Leighton of Iowa City. Her family moved to Texas when she was an infant where she grew up and maintained lifelong friendships in Temple. As a teenager she moved with her family to Richardson, Texas, where she graduated from Richardson High School. She graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a degree in elementary education. Diana was united in marriage on Aug. 30, 1968, in Dallas to her high school sweetheart, John W. Phipps, also originally from Iowa City.

After college, Diana and John returned to Richardson, where she began what would be a 36-year teaching career. In 1977, they returned to Iowa City to raise their family. Diana taught in the Iowa City School District for 30 years before retiring in 2008. For the last 25 years of her career she taught at her beloved Kirkwood Elementary, where she met and maintained close friendships with all of her students, families and staff. Her other interests included spending time with her grandchildren, sharing dinners and activities with their long time gourmet dinner group, visits to Moss Lake, Texas, participation in her “No Stress Book Group” and gatherings with her many friends.

Diana's family includes her husband, John of Iowa City; their children and spouses, John and Angela Phipps of Coralville and Kathy and Jeremie Moen of Iowa City; their grandchildren, Wyatt and Kelsey Phipps and Autumn and Danielle Moen; her mother, Una Leighton of Georgetown, Texas; her sister, Susan George of Austin, Texas; her brother, Steve Leighton of Tucson, Ariz.; cousin, Patricia Freel of Austin, Texas; and numerous nieces, nephews and in-laws.

She was preceded in death by her father, Robert Leighton; paternal grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Issac Leighton; maternal grandmother, Marguerite Sook; brother-in-law, Dane George; and numerous aunts and uncles.

Gay & Ciha Funeral and Cremation Service is caring for Diana's family and her services.