Dianne L. Kozel

Dianne L. Kozel, passed away Sunday morning at the age of 65, surrounded by her loving family, after a courageous battle with triple negative inflammatory breast cancer.

She had an artistic flair like no other, creating beautiful floral masterpieces that touched the lives of many through her work as a florist. She believed in creating experiences for those around her. During her ownership of The Flower Bin she started Hometown Christmas in Belvidere and helped create magical Christmas scenes for everyone to enjoy.

Christmas was her favorite holiday. Gingerbread houses were a prized tradition, and her decorations looked like they came out of a magazine. We always had her extraordinary apple pie, way too much food, baked a smorgasbord of cookies, had Christmas pajamas, and tons of presents. She wanted to create an environment for others she didn’t have growing up.
Her family was her everything. She was the peace keeper between her siblings, which was needed since she was one of 8! Joyce, June, Ed, John, Roy, and Gary held special places in her heart.

She loved being a grandma! She went on a trip to Guatemala to meet her first grandson Xander, a trip to Indy to meet her second Max, and came back from Florida early to meet her third Calvin. She will be watching her fourth’s arrival from above. She always did special things for her grandkids like painting their nurseries in a way only she knew how. Taking them fishing, baking, golfing, and playing with them was important to her too. She used to say she didn’t know what to do with boys after raising two girls, but we think it’s safe to say she did just fine and they always felt loved.

She loved to fish. Growing up she took her family fishing at their trailer in Wisconsin. If there was water nearby on a vacation, she was fishing. She took many fishing trips with Steve, who was a willing participant in her fishing plans (the rest of us weren’t always so willing...) Her last trip took place in August.

She loved to travel and even owned a travel agency for awhile. If there was beach, she was there. One of her favorite places to go was Hawaii. Florida was a top contender too, and she was looking forward to spending the winters there away from the freezing Illinois temps.
During the summer you would find her working in her gardens, bird watching, or enjoying a cup of coffee in her outdoor surroundings. She had a vision for her gardens and an extremely green thumb. She even catered to her high maintenance birds that needed fresh slices of oranges and Welches grape jelly everyday.

She loved to shop! We joked that we could shop in her house because she literally had everything and usually more than one with the tags still on it.

She threw the best parties. They were always over the top with crazy decorations and themes. She created amazing themed parties for her daughters, Kimberly and Jennifer, over the years and helped with her grandsons’ parties too. She assisted in planning both her girls’ weddings and showers, and threw an amazing casino themed bash for her love Steve.
She was extremely creative and could whip up decorations, arrangements, bows, paintings, crafts, and even reupholster furniture without YouTubing it first.

She really wanted to make it to her Celebration of Life Luau. We were ready to bump up the date. Unfortunately, life didn’t work out that way. We are honoring her wishes and making her vision come to life in a Celebration of Life Luau Memorial service- in true Dianne fashion. The decorations have been ordered, food has been catered, and her gardens are finished. We invite everyone to come raise a glass and celebrate her life September 28th at 4:00 pm with a dove release at 6:00 pm. Please contact a family member for details on the location and for parking details.

The family requests any memorial gifts in Dianne’s honor are sent to Pink Heals of Winnebago County.