Surrounded by family in gentle hospice care, Diane Downs Aureden died from the late stages of vascular dementia on July 20 at the Leonard Florence Center for Living in Chelsea.

Born and raised in Cleveland Ohio, Diane attended Cleveland Heights High School and graduated from Denison University. She earned her master’s degree at the University of Michigan and her PhD in American Studies from George Washington University.

Her career in higher education spanned close to 50 years. she taught at Kent State University, Federal City College (now the University of the District of Columbia) and the Tyler School of Art and Architecture prior to her decades as a professor of English at Drexel University.

She is predeceased by her husband of 45 years, Timothy Aureden. Diane and Tim knew each other from early childhood in Cleveland; their parents were best friends since their high school years in Canton, Ohio. Both of their first marriages ended in divorce and Diane and Tim married in 1974.

Diane and Tim raised their blended family in Philadelphia, where they lived for 36 years before retiring to their summer home in Oak Bluffs. In both homes, they loved nothing more than their dining room table crowded beyond its true capacity with their ever-expanding family and wide circle of friends. Diane was a wonderful cook carrying on the traditions of her Ohio roots with playful modern twists.’

Above all else, she cherished family and friends, always inventing reasons for celebration. She adored holidays and created traditions for all of them. In the fall she sent all the neighborhood kids out to collect leaves and taught them how to wax them. On President’s Day she baked cherry pie.

After keeping all the children up until midnight on New Year’s Eve, she led them running around the neighborhood banging pots and pans. Christmas was celebrated with not one but three decorated Christmas trees. Most of all, she loved playing Christmas carols at the piano until even the most reluctant of teenage grandchildren found themselves singing along with everyone else.

Diane and Tim shared a love of reading, music, art, theatre, movies and travel. Wherever they journeyed, they brought home local street art. Together, they were deeply involved members of the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church and joined the West Tisbury Congregational Church when they moved full time to Martha’s Vineyard.

She is survived by her brother, David Downs; her surviving sons Kevin and Timothy Aureden; her daughters Anne Betz, Elizabeth Aureden and Julia Schad; her 16 grandchildren and numerous and beloved nieces, nephews, great nieces and great nephews.

She will be buried alongside her husband Tim and son David Aureden at the Oak Bluffs Cemetery in small family ceremony later this summer. A celebration of fife will be held in Philadelphia in the late fall.

Donations can be sent to Hospice and Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard, 459 State Rd, PMB 244, Vineyard Haven MA 02568