Animal lover Stanger overcame profound obstacles

Animal lover Stanger overcame profound obstacles

By Tunette M. Powell – Express-News

Posted: 01/18/2010

Diana Minerva Stanger was born with lemons. But the “feisty, strong-minded
girl that wouldn’t budge” turned them into lemonade at a young age, her
family said.

Born deaf and with serious heart problems, Stanger underwent open heart
surgery when she was just 2. The hearing impairment and the operation that
many believed would sideline her childhood didn’t get in the way of frequent
camping trips and competitive dodge ball games.

“It was never an obstacle for her,” said her sister, Rachel Esther
Villanueva. “We were taught to treat her the same, and she became very
independent at a young age.”

It was the same for Stanger as she became an adult, battling diabetes and
the realization that she couldn’t have children. Instead of allowing it to
break her, Stanger battled diabetes for 25 years and became a surrogate
mother to a cat and dog.

Stanger died at her home in Spring Branch on Saturday from complications of
diabetes. She was 45.

Stanger attended the Sunshine Cottage School for the Deaf until she was 10.
There she learned to read lips.

After she completed elementary school at Sunshine, Stanger’s parents
enrolled her in public school in Crystal City. She was on the cheerleading
squad, something her sister said Stanger enjoyed.

Stanger then moved to Austin to complete high school at the Texas State
School for the Deaf. While there she worked for the IRS field office as a
file clerk. Stanger, who stood 4 feet, 11 inches tall, also played on the
school’s basketball team.

It was at the state school that she met David Paul Stanger, who later became
her husband of 24 years. David, also deaf, went on to earn a bachelor’s
degree before marrying Stanger when she was 21. Their wedding ceremony was
conducted in American Sign Language.

The two lived in Clear Lake for nearly 10 years before moving to Spring
Branch, where Stanger taught commands in sign language to her cat, named
Orange, and her dog, Apple.

“She loved children but couldn’t have any,” Villanueva said. “That’s where
the animal love came from.”

Stanger, who also had rabbits, chickens and gerbils at different times in
her life, defended the animals as though they were her children. When family
members joked with Stanger about getting rid of them, she’d sign, “If you
don’t like them, you can stay at a Motel 6.”

Diana Minerva Stanger

BORN: Dec. 8, 1964, in San Antonio

DIED: Jan. 16, 2010, in Spring Branch

SURVIVED BY: Her husband, David Paul Stanger; mother, Raquel Diaz; sister,
Rachel Esther Villanueva; and brothers, Daniel B. Diaz, Edward I. Diaz, and
Carlos A. Diaz.

SERVICES: Visitation will be from 1-7 p.m. today at Castillo Mission Funeral
Home at 520 N. General McMullen. The visitation will end with a prayer
service at 7 p.m. There will be chapel service at 9 a.m. Wednesday at the
funeral home, followed by interment at Earthman Memorial Gardens Cemetery in
Baytown.

Source:
http://www.mysanantonio.com/obituaries/82019982.html

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