Sherri Diane (Owen) Slater, 64, went to join the Savior she deeply loved on July 13, 2020, after an eight-month journey with cancer.

Diane was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, the second child of Jack and Barbara Owen. They moved to Portland, Oregon, when Diane was a baby. There she attended Beaumont Elementary School and graduated from Grant High School. Diane later studied at Whitworth University in Spokane and Good Samaritan School of Nursing in Portland. She was volunteering as a camp nurse for the Salvation Army's summer camps when she fell in love with her future husband, Graham Slater, an Englishman on a summer student exchange program and working at those same summer camps. Diane and Graham met 40 years ago last month and would have celebrated 39 years of marriage on July 31.

Diane loved beautiful landscapes, beautiful sunsets, and beautiful music. She enjoyed many years of singing and playing guitar and piano. She had a lifetime love of literature, which she passed on to her children alongside beautiful editions of favorites by Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, and many others.

Diane was a dedicated homemaker and loved to sew, bake, cook, and offer orderly hospitality to her guests. In midlife, she taught herself subjects she'd never learned in high school in order to give her three children an excellent home education. She was an attentive wife, mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and grandmother, always remembering to call and send cards for birthdays and anniversaries, even in the weeks right before her passing. She loved good stories and could be counted on to share knee-slapping laughter over a good cup of tea. Several of her friends said they laughed more with Diane than with anyone else.

Everywhere she lived, Diane brought a strong sense of humor, a desire for connection, and deep faith. She invested deeply in local churches, attended Nurses Christian Fellowship while in nursing school, and participated in Bible Study Fellowship groups for many years after her 11-year homeschool teaching job came to an end. She built delightful friendships with those around her—including her local post office clerks, grocery store cashiers, UPS delivery driver, car repairmen, and neighbors. In her later years, Diane struggled with a variety of health challenges that limited her activities but drove passionate interests in nutrition and naturopathic medicine, interests which benefitted others who shared similar challenges. She was known far and wide as a powerful "prayer warrior." Her friends and family loved receiving emails or texts from her, asking, "How can I be praying for you?" Diane spent time every day in prayer and Scripture reading, even in her final days.

Diane is survived by her husband Graham of Silverton; her mother Barbara Owen; her children and their spouses, Keith (and Katelyn) Slater, Ian (and Rachel) Slater, and Emily (and Josiah) Carminati; her seven grandchildren; her brothers, Steve and Mark Owen, and her sister, Melinda Lewis, and their spouses; and her eleven nieces and nephews and their families. Her father Jack Owen preceded her to heaven, and she joyously anticipated their reunion.

The family wishes to extend our enormous gratitude to Willamette Valley Hospice.

Memorial contributions may be made to Hope Pregnancy Clinic of Salem, Oregon, at https://hopeforsalem.org/, or to Emmanuel Bible Church (Building Fund) of Salem, Oregon, at https://www.ebcsalem.com/ . Assisting the family is Unger Funeral Chapel - Silverton.