Diane Edith Bacastow

Diane E. Bacastow

Diane E. Bacastow, nee Janicek, a long-time resident of Los Alamos and Santa Fe, New Mexico, died on December 8, 2020 at the age of 91, surrounded by her two children, Laurie and Daniel, and Daniel’s wife, Shelley Bacastow.  Diane is also survived by her sister Wynnette “Dolly” Moneka (nee Janicek) of Clarendon Hills, Illinois and her grandsons, Sean Bacastow of Los Angeles, California and Ryan Bacastow of Chicago, Illinois, as well as many loving cousins, nieces and nephews.  Diane was preceded in death by her sweetheart, best friend, and husband, Jack Bacastow, to whom she was married for almost 69 years.  Jack died on September 15, 2020, and Diane’s broken heart could not heal after that loss.  She was also preceded in death by her parents, Louis and Edith Janicek (nee Wickstrom), and her brother Eric Janicek of Westmont, Illinois.

Diane was born in Chicago, Illinois, on February 23, 1929.  She was raised in the Chicago suburbs, including Brookfield, Illinois, and graduated in 1947, eighth in a class of 200, from Riverside‑Brookfield High School, where she excelled in all subjects, particularly Latin. 

Diane and Jack met in Brookfield, Illinois, where both lived. They courted by attending White Sox games and married on September 22, 1951.  Diane worked in bookkeeping for a local bank in the Chicago area until her children were born.  The family moved to Los Alamos, New Mexico in 1959 where Jack pursued his engineering career at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory.  Diane was a gentle, generous, caring and kind mother and wife, devoted to her husband and children as well as to causes related to the environment, politics, justice and wildlife and animal welfare. 

In 1997, she was asked to speak on what it took to have a successful marriage after 46 years of marriage at the time, and she volunteered that she and Jack were best friends with many common interests, which seemed to be their secret.  She also was asked to share what advice she would give her two grandsons, and she shared these five principles:  1) Have respect for other people and their property; 2) Be kind to animals; 3) Wash your hands; 4) Buckle your seat-belt; and 5) Don’t smoke. 

Services for Diane and Jack will be held at a safer time in the summer of 2021 with a portion of Diane’s ashes to be interred with a portion of Jack’s at the Santa Fe National Cemetery, and the remainder to be scattered together in the Sangre de Cristo mountains that they both loved.

Contributions in Diane’s memory can be made to Kindred Spirits Animal Sanctuary, 3749-A Highway 14, Santa Fe, NM 87508, https://www.kindredspiritsnm.org/donate-2, which provides eldercare and hospice to older dogs and horses and was a cause dear to Diane and Jack.