Hundreds turn out to remember teacher

Hundreds gathered to remember the award-winning educator Diane Pugmire at the Riverdale LDS Stake Center on Monday morning, Nov. 2.
Community members, neighbors, Weber State University colleagues, and former and current students overflowed the chapel and gym of the stake center to pay their respects.
Pugmire’s oldest daughter, Ariana Sears, shared memories of her mother and welcomed those in attendance to treat the service as a celebration, rather than a time of mourning. Sears said that is how her mom would have wanted it.
“She would want us to take courage, to problem-solve and come up with positive solutions,” Sears said. “She wouldn’t want us to spend too much time waiting for her, because she is not sad. Mom would want all of us to be happy, to get up and to serve others. That is how we can keep her in our life.”
During the services Sears said it will take time to get past her mother’s death, but she is confident everyone can learn from this unexpected tragedy.
“I still don’t understand this completely,” Sears said, “but I look forward to letting her spirit and our Savior’s teach us from this experience.”
Sears said the world will be a little scarier without her mom, but said her mom would want those who knew her to continue serving others in memory of her.
Pugmire leaves behind three children (two daughters and a son) and five grandchildren.
One of Pugmire’s daughters, Natalie Hincks, said she will remember her mother’s light and personality the most.
“Her spirit was so bright and vibrant, and it shone through her eyes and her beautiful smile,” Hincks said. “She could light up a room with her personality and her laugh was so contagious. And if you were ever privileged enough to hear her snort (when she laughed), that was even better.”
Heidi Allen, Pugmire’s sister, said Pugmire once gave her advice to turn an opposition into triumph. Allen used the words her sister once shared with her to apply to all those wondering how they could move on after this unexpected event.
“My question for each one of us today is how do we honor Diane’s wish to turn this trial, her death, into a triumph?”
Allen encouraged those in attendance to turn the opposition of Pugmire’s passing into a strength rather than a setback, in honor of her.
“I will miss her immensely and love her eternally,” Allen said. “I feel so lucky to call her my big sister.”
LDS Area Authority Seventy, Elder Carl B. Cook, presided over the funeral service and shared his thoughts on the strength of the Pugmire family to persevere through tragedy as one. Cook is a family friend of the Pugmires and said neighborhoods, wards, stakes and the community were all affected by Diane Pugmire’s life.
“Today we have witnessed the strength of the Pugmire family,” Cook said.
Of all the awards Pugmire received, Cook said he believed her highest honor was the family she raised.
“I think the greatest award or tribute that could be paid to Diane and to (her husband) Dan was the testimonies that were borne of their children, not only in the words they spoke, but in the strength they submitted.”
As a General Authority, Cook said the greatest lesson he has learned in life is to not only teach the LDS gospel and serve others, but to live it.
“We had a demonstration today of Diane and Dan’s teaching in their family, that at that time of need, when we are reaching out looking for answers, that they turn and find comfort in the strength through the atonement of Jesus Christ and the blessing the gospel brings,” Cook said.
After the memorial service, family and friends gathered at the Linquist’s Memorial Gardens of the Wasatch for a graveside service on a hillside overlooking South Ogden to pay their final respects. The family let the children attending release a group of blue and white helium-filled balloons. Blue was Pugmire’s favorite color, and white symbolized purity. It was something the family wanted to do to help the children remember the day as a day of happiness rather than sadness.
While the Pugmire family spread messages of joy and taking comfort in knowing they will see her again one day, many students and colleagues are still having a difficult time coping.
“It is just really hard on our class,” said Bethany Carlton, a junior and elementary education major. “We were supposed to have a test tomorrow, but now that is postponed. We don’t want to open math books. It is just hard for us; especially with one month left in the semester, we don’t have time to recover. We have to jump back in and go for it.”
Carlton said she will miss Pugmire because she understood people. Carlton had just gone through the teacher education process a week ago and was waiting to get into the program when Pugmire shared the good news with her. 
“She was the one who told me that I made it,” Carlton said. “So I didn’t have to wait (a month) for the letter. She just sat there and told me I made it in her office. We were excited together. It was amazing to think I can become a teacher, like her, and make a difference.”
Rebecca Hartley, a senior in elementary education, said Pugmire made her feel like someone special.
“I came into her office and we were working on math homework, and she looks at me and she said, ‘Girl, you got this, you should have a math concentration,’” Hartley said. “That was a really big deal for me, because she was the only math teacher I have ever had in my history of math classes that told me that I got math, and that I was smart. She made me feel so smart.”