Dianna "DeeDee" Maguder Kelley

Dianna “DeeDee” (Maguder) Kelley, 81, of Hubert, North Carolina, passed away on July 14, 2024.

Dianna, daughter of Frances and Frank Maguder of Lawrence, Massachusetts, graduated from Lawrence High School and worked in the Lawrence Mills. She married Richard “Rick” Kelley of Lawrence, who was a Green Beret in Vietnam for over a decade. Her life as a military wife and mother earned her the nickname "gypsy". But she always made time to go back to Lawrence, to visit family and enjoy her mother’s Polish cooking. She also visited her sister and family in Texas quite often. Dianna eventually settled in North Carolina. 

Dianna’s love of letters, card writing, and sewing started in Japan. Vogue magazines made her the Jackie O of the base. She sewed all her daughter's clothes, their doll clothes, and even crocheted clothes for her Barbie Dolls. Back in the States, she continued her high fashion sense, as well as her love of quilting with her sisters. 

Often at the beach, another love shared by the “Maguder Glamour Girls”, she could be found fishing off the piers or strolling on the sand. 

She was a treasure hunter at heart. A self-employed merchant, she spent weekends in her shop at the flea market. She didn’t do it for the money but for fellowship. She always stocked stuffed animals for the kids but didn’t charge them.

Dianna’s devotion to Christ was in everything she did, as well as the many, many cards with stickers and confetti and beautiful handwritten notes of blessings and prayers. She was always praying for her family and Country. 

Dianna defined the words, “grit and feisty”. Making friends throughout the Country with a coffee in her hand and a cigarette, with the longest ash you ever saw teetering on the end. She unapologetically lived life on her terms, right to the very last day (even firing the cardiologist and making the orderly throw the doctor out of her room) while wearing a scapula and reading a Bible.

She is survived by her children, Colleen Kelley, Erin Kelley, and Justin Kelley; grandchildren and their spouses, Ryan and Christie Kelley, Tara Bell, Shayla and Johnny Beavers, and Dazy Savage; and her nieces and nephews from Texas and Massachusetts whom she leaves with many cards and stickers.

Dianna is predeceased by her parents, Frank and Frances Maguder; siblings and their spouses, Barbara and Frank Dobson, Daniel Maguder, Robert "Bob" Maguder, and Kathleen "Kay" and John Bush; as well as her two nephews, Christopher Maguder and John Bush Jr. 

Dianna will be laid to rest at 3 p.m., Sunday, August 4, 2024, at Carteret Memorial Gardens, Beaufort, NC. The family will be holding a memorial service and life celebration in Lawrence, Massachusetts, at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks for contributions to be made to your local Veterans Services, Catholic Children's Charities, The Indian Reservations, or rescued horses which she actively donated to.

Family and friends are welcome to submit online condolences at www.mundenfuneralhome.net

Arrangements by Munden Funeral Home & Crematory, Inc., Morehead City, NC.