Kenneth Diez

Kenneth George Diez, 92, died Wednesday April 8, 2015, at the Odd Fellow & Rebekah Health Center in Lockport, New York. Ken is survived by his wife of 69 ½ years Eleanor (neé Strahan); his sons: Neiland Diez of Charleston, SC, and Raymond (Suzanne) Dietz of Youngstown, NY; grandchildren: Olivia Belter, Jessica Dietz (fiancé Martin Doherty), and Aaron (Denise) Dietz; great-grandchildren: Zachary, Tyler, and Evan Belter and Carson, Brady, and Hollyn Dietz; and sister-in-law Marge (Raymond) Strahan of Friendship. Ken was predeceased by his parents John and Edna (Jeddo) Diez, his brother Jack (Marion) Dietz, and sister Hazel (Norman) Collins. Ken was born and raised in the c. 1870 farmhouse at the corner of Youngstown-Wilson and Lutts Road on one of his German grandfather Friedrich's five farms. He graduated from the Youngstown High School as the Valedictorian of the Class of 1940 and received the Principal's Award for Citizenship from Edith Ripson. Ken was a life-long farmer in the Town of Porter and caddied at the opening of the Niagara Frontier Country Club in 1930. On February 18, 1941, his 18th birthday, Ken joined the war effort at the Bell Aircraft plant on Elmwood in Buffalo and eventually transferred to the new Bell facility on Niagara Falls Boulevard to pre-flight P-39 Airacobras. German POWs from Fort Niagara worked on the Diez farm during the war. In the 1950s Ken operated heavy machinery for the construction of the Robert Moses Power Project. He managed the Youngstown Cold Storage during the 1960s and worshipped at the First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown and served as a Deacon for a number of years. The family will be present at the HARDISON FUNERAL HOME, 3648 Ransomville Rd., Ransomville on Sunday April 12, from 2:00 - 4:00 and 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Funeral services will be held Monday, April13, at 10:00 am in the First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown, 100 Church St., Youngstown, with the Rev. Charles Lamb officiating. (Please assemble at Church) Burial will follow in Oakland Rural Cemetery, Lake Rd., Youngstown. Flowers are gratefully declined. Memorials in Ken's memory may be made to the First Presbyterian Church of Youngstown or the Niagara Falls Aerospace Museum, 2221 Niagara Falls, Blvd. #7, Niagara Falls, NY 14304.