About the Author
Diana Deats-O'Reilly, B.A., M.A., M.Ed., is an educator and journalist living in Grand
Forks, North Dakota for the past three decades.
A native of California, the author received her undergraduate degrees in both education
and journalism from Chico State University, Chico, California, as well as a graduate
degree in special education. She later earned a Master of Arts degree in theology with a
focus on pastoral care from the University of Santa Clara .
Diana spent the fall of 1984 as a lay missionary to Chimbote, Peru, South America,
returning there again in August 2000.
She has served for a number of years as a Hospice Worker. She has been active in
community charitable works, a member of the Grand Forks Symphony Board of Directors,
and president of the Grand Forks Branch of the American Association of University
Women. She is a Kappa Phi Sorority Alumnae and was Beta Sigma Phi's Greater Grand
Forks Woman of the Year.
Diana is a Holy Family Parish Eucharistic Minister as well as a Funeral Minister. She also
serves as secretary of the Fargo Diocesan Council for the Rights of Church
Members.
She is a member of the Greater Grand Forks Area Porphyria Support Network and has
served as a patient advocate for porphyria patients. She has served as a workshop
presenter on porphyria.
Now retired from teaching special education and English, she is a hospital and
communities volunteer worker. Both Diana and her husband are active volunteers with
the Home Delivered Meals program.
Diana is chair of the Grand Forks City Human Rights Commission and a member of the
North Dakota Human Rights Commission Coalition and serves on the Legislative
Testimony Committee, and is a member of the ND AAUW Human Rights Task Force.
She makes her home with her husband, Dr. Edward J. O'Reilly and is both a mother and
grandmother.
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