Diana Hobby

Diana Poteat Stallings passed away the 4th of July 2014 in Houston, with her family by her side. She was born on the 22nd of April 1931, in New York City to Helen Poteat and Laurence Tucker Stallings. She graduated from Chatham Hall School in 1948 and Radcliffe College in 1952 (Phi Beta Kappa). She was working for Chatham Hall when she married Ensign William P. Hobby, Jr., on the 11th of September, 1954. The wedding took place at Forest Home, the Poteat family home near Yanceyville, NC. he and Bill lived in Washington, D.C. where he was stationed until 1957. While in Washington she earned an M.A. in English Literature from Georgetown University and worked for the Experiment in International Living and the Central Intelligence Agency. In Houston, she was book editor of the Houston Post in the 1950s and 1960s. She earned her Ph.D. in English Literature from Rice University in 1981. She was a William Butler Yeats scholar and wrote her dissertation on his work. She was associate editor of Studies in English Literature from 1979-1991, and associate editor emerita thereafter. She had a great love of the English language, a passion for literature, was a supporter of libraries, and a lifelong patron of the humanities in Texas. Diana served on the boards of St. John's School, Memorial Park Conservancy, Friends of Hermann Park, Harry Ransom Center, Texas Institute of Letters, Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute in Alpine, and Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts in Virginia, among others. She was a founding board member of the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center and was on the selection committee for the Lady Bird Johnson Highway Beautification Awards that honored people working to restore and preserve Texas' natural treasures. Diana was committed to the conservation of air, water, and wildlife in addition to natural beauty. Diana is survived by her husband of 60 years, Bill Hobby, their children and their spouses, Laura and John Beckworth, Paul and Janet Hobby, Andrew and Teresa Hobby, Kate and Steve Gibson, and their grandchildren Will, Carter, and John Beckworth, Grace, Walker and Eric Hobby, Caroline, Carson, and Wheeler Gibson, and Spencer Gourley. She is also survived by her sister and brother-in-law, Sylvia and Will Lowe of Alexandria, VA.