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Diana Luisa Montejano, poet and English lecturer at Palo Alto Community College for twenty-four years, passed away Thursday. She was 74. Born in Del Rio, Texas, and raised in San Antonio's west side, Diana was a proud fifth- generation Tejana. She attended Christ the King Elementary School and Little Flower High School, where she graduated in 1968. At Little Flower, Diana was the editor of the school paper. She attended Our Lady of the Lake University for a few years, 1968-1970, when illness delayed her education. Diana was very active in politics. She was a legislative research aide for State Senator Joe Bernal, and was one of the first volunteers to work with Southwest Voter Registration Education Project under Willie Velasquez. She was a volunteer for the Raza Unida Party, and was a charter member of the Brown Berets. Her commitment to civil rights never wavered. She worked in the accounting department at the San Antonio Express-News for 13 years, 1980-1993, and through its scholarship program, attended the University of the Incarnate Word part time, graduating in 1992. She left San Antonio to attend the University of Texas at El Paso, where she received a Master's Degree of Fine Arts in Creative Writing in 1997. While in El Paso, she taught at San Elizario High School and El Paso Community College. She also worked as a legislative aide to State Representative Norma Chavez. She returned to San Antonio in 1998 and secured a position as a lecturer at Palo Alto Community College until the present. She also taught at St. Gerard's High School for nearly twenty years. Diana was a popular instructor known for her storytelling. Poetry was her passion. She won several awards for her writing Her poetry has appeared in the Rio Grande Review, Blue Mesa Review, Caracol, and the Chronicles of Higher Education. For entertainment, Diana was an avid sports fan of the Oakland Raiders, the Houston Astros, and of course the Spurs. She loved fishing and the horse races. She was preceded in death by her parents, Juan and Maria Luisa Montejano, and is survived by her brothers and sisters-in-law David and Veronica, Johnny and Rose Marie, Jerry and Rachel, ten nephews and nieces, and nine grand nephews and grand nieces. Diana was a devout member of St. Mary Magdalen's parish, where she taught eighth grade for several years. She will be buried in the Cordi-Marian Cemetery, close to the nuns that taught her in elementary school.

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Diana L. Montejano

April 28, 1950 - February 6, 2025