Ms. Dian Green

This link has been established by the International Myeloma Foundation for donations to the M-Power Initiative to Improve Outcomes for African Americans In Memory of Dian Green https://fundraise.myeloma.org/campaign/815337/donate The second of three daughters and third oldest of six children, Dian Green, was born to the union of Leroy Green Sr. and Ruth O’Neil Green, née Wren on September 25, 1951, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dian grew up – at what is now the corner of 15th and Lloyd, beautified after her mother purchased empty lots, for one dollar each, where a single-family house and Black owned dry cleaners previously stood. Growing up, Dian attended Metropolitan Missionary Baptist Church, with her parents and siblings and almost all of her paternal first cousins, under the pastorships of the late Reverend Elbert Muncie Kelly Jr. and the late Reverend Willie D. Wanzo Sr. First at the North Avenue location where she accepted Christ as her savior, and later at the new place of worship built from the ground on 13th and Burleigh. Dian’s early church experience included participation in Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, annual church picnics, and revivals, as well as training under the Red Circle supervisor across generations, the late Mrs. Catherine Jacobs. Dian’s formative education at Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) included completion at Lloyd Street Elementary and Roosevelt Junior High, and graduation from North Division High School – Class of 1969. In high school, Dian participated in track and field, played girl’s intramural softball, lettered in varsity cheerleading and was a member of the flourishing modern dance group, which would later become the acclaimed Nefatari Dancers. When Dian attended the University of Wisconsin-Stout (formerly Stout State University), she was a home economics major with an interest in fashion design. After her time in college, Dian soon married her college boyfriend and they relocated to Little Ferry, New Jersey. Dian persevered when her marriage ended and continued living out East. She worked for several organizations and global entities in the New York Metropolitan Area in office management, human resources and benefits administration. Including at the once highly regarded business and secretarial school, Katherine Gibbs; the Northeast global operations of Vitabath; medical equipment manufacturer Datascope Corporation; and Hunter Douglass, the manufacturer of custom design window treatments, from which she retired. In addition to her main work history, Dian briefly worked for the diversified African American business of Mowatt, Incorporated. Dian joined her much beloved second church home, Mount Olive Baptist Church in Hackensack, New Jersey on September 24, 1995, under the pastorship of Reverend Gregory Jerome Jackson, Pastor Emeritus and since 2021, Reverend Dr. John O. Page. As a member of Mount Olive, Dian participated in church retreats and several spiritually uplifting church ministries, including the Women’s Ministry, Youth Mentoring Ministry, Drama and Theatre Ministry, and Intercessory Prayer Ministry. Dian remained a faithful member at Mount Olive even through illness and health challenges later in life, regularly joining online Sunday worship services and attending Bible Study online. At the start of COVID, Dian received devastating health news. She needed to be treated for the most common blood cancer in people of African American descent, multiple myeloma. Staying hopeful through her treatments and taking nothing for granted, Dian ventured on several seemly “one last time” visits. The examples being: her attending the last family reunion on her mother’s side in Mississippi; a last family gathering with cousins for a Thanksgiving feast in Wisconsin; and the last Christmas trip home to Milwaukee to greet the newest addition to the family. Through it all, Dian, affectionately known by her family as “Dottie,” was seeing her way to a better home. On May 21, 2026, Dian Green solemnly and with God’s love and mercy, departed this earthly life to be with our Lord and the angels in Heaven.

Ms. Dian Green

September 25, 1951 - May 21, 2026