Diane Leslie DeBelle (born Diane Leslie Cox) was born March 29, 1948 in Lima, Ohio. Diane, age 76, passed peacefully in her sleep on Monday, January 27, 2025 at Hoag Hospital in Irvine, California of congestive heart failure. Diane was lovingly known as "mom" to her two children and "grammy" to her four grandchildren. Born to Agnes and Donald Cox, she has four siblings: Marsha Hatfield (passed), Ric Cox, Steve Cox, and Nancy Shaffer. Diane moved to California in 1956 with her parents and siblings, where they drove their station wagon across the United States. Diane distinctly remembers eating lots of ham sandwiches from the cooler on that long road trip. After settling in Garden Grove, CA, Diane met Dennis Kanegae in high school and soon after graduating high school, Diane and Dennis were married in the summer of 1967 and had two children Jeffrey and Sonya. After that marriage didn't work out, Diane went on to marry Al Leibovic, 1990-2007.

Diane was an avid learner and although she worked full-time, she continued her studies and achieved an AA degree from Santa Ana College, and eventually a BA in Sociology from Cal State Long Beach. She began a career in health care for several hospitals and worked her way up to Director of Human Resources. She retired in 2002, where she enjoyed working with a decorator to renovate her Malibu home. She resided in both Los Angeles and Orange County for most of her life and currently, in Orange, California. She is survived by her son Jeffrey Kanegae, daughter Sonya Stepanovich, Daughter-in-law Diane Kanegae, Son-in-law Tom Stepanovich, and grandchildren Chase, Emerson, Grayson and Ashton.

Diane's pride and joy was being grandma aka grammy. She would play with her grandchildren for hours on end. She would go to sporting events with her folding chair, always wanting to be on the sidelines to watch Chase and Ashton play baseball and Grayson play soccer. She came to Emerson's choral concerts on every occasion. She attended all of their school events, commencements, graduations and school festivals.

Diane loved to travel. She took her family on summer trips including destinations like Alaska, Hawaii (several times), France, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Montenegro, Slovenia, and the Caribbean. She was a very generous woman. She would give you her last penny if you asked and would always be there for you if you needed advice, a big hug or a good laugh. Although she loved all the simple things in life such as good movie, a good book, fried chicken and potato salad, she also loved antiques, French country furniture shopping and a crisp, dry glass of pinot grigio. She loved her pets which included pugs, a German Shepherd, teacup poodles and beautiful long-haired cats.

Some of Diane's favorite sayings were "C'est La Vie", "Fair to Middlin'", "I gotta hiccup in my Giddyup".

A private Celebration of Life will be held Saturday, February 8, 2025 in Orange, California.