Arlene passed away on June 19, 2024 at the age of 98.
Born in 1925 on a Camano Island dairy farm, Arlene was the youngest of Earl and Helena Lindsay’s four children. She was baptized at Camano Lutheran Church and confirmed at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Stanwood. She spent much of her childhood playing outdoors near the family farm and walked a mile to attend grade school in a one room schoolhouse in Utsalady. At 16, she traveled to Chicago as a delegate to the 1941 National 4-H Club Congress. She later graduated from Stanwood High School in a class of twelve students.
Arlene was a registered nurse. She attended Pacific Lutheran College (now PLU), the University of Washington, and the Swedish Hospital School of Nursing. To afford college, she traded childcare for room and board and made her own clothes until she entered the wartime Cadet Nurse Corps. After graduation, she worked in the delivery room at Swedish Hospital, where she would continue until the birth of her second child.
On a blind date in 1951, Arlene met the love of her life, Edward Diamond. They married five weeks later. In 1956, after the births of two girls and a boy, they purchased a veterinary clinic in Everett. Over the years, Ed served on local and state education boards, and Arlene sang in the choir at Faith Lutheran Church, led Campfire Girls groups, and served on PTA committees. She joined the P.E.O. Sisterhood, the Everett Woman’s Book Club, the Assistance League, and The Daughters of Norway. She served on the Everett Parks Department board, supported charitable and arts organizations, and was active in Faith Lutheran and Our Savior’s Lutheran churches in Everett and Trinity Lutheran Church in Freeland.
A second son arrived in 1966, and as the older children left home, Ed and Arlene hosted exchange students, two of whom became extended family. The couple also began traveling, an interest that would take them to many domestic and international destinations. After 48 years in Everett, they built a house on South Whidbey Island and immersed themselves in island life. Ed passed away in 2014, and Arlene remained on Whidbey until 2022 when she moved to assisted living, first in Everett and then in Marysville.
Arlene was a lifelong learner who taught her children to appreciate language, music, books, plants, and animals. She enjoyed hiking, theater, sewing, multiple handcrafts, gardening, and cooking. She took language lessons in Norwegian, Russian, and Spanish and became a Master Gardener in her 70’s. Into her 90’s, she walked, kept abreast of the news, and enjoyed hearing about the activities of her children and grandchildren.
The last of surviving member of her generation, Arlene was preceded in death by her sisters Helen Corbin and Dorothy Eisentrout and brother John “Jack” Lindsay, as well as granddaughter Hayley Haller. She will be deeply missed by her children and their spouses: Heather Diamond (Frederick Lau), Holly Diamond, Lindsay Diamond (Katie), and Brent Diamond (Maren); her grandchildren: Sorrel McCarthy, Danika Diamond Haller, Lacey Goldsbury, Maija Diamond, and Espen Diamond; and her great grandchildren: Aiden Kuseski, Bryn McCarthy, Elise McCarthy, Cael McCarthy, and Hayley Goldsbury.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Donations can be made in her memory to the following organizations: Assistance League of Everett, ELCA Global Missions, The Stanwood Area Historical Society.
