Obituary of Dyana Asimakos
Dyana Asimakos passed away peacefully on December 2, 2021 at the Saint John Regional Hospital. Dyana was born on April 13, 1938 in Boston, MA. She was the only daughter of the late Marie Dreisbach, a registered nurse and single mother.
Her grandparents had emigrated to the United States from Finland and built a cranberry farm in Carver, just outside of Boston. Dyana spoke fondly about the cranberry bogs, which she visited regularly with her mother. Dyana graduated from Weymouth High School and went on to study at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University in Boston. There she met John Asimakos, whom she would marry soon after. She had her first son, Peter, in 1960, and Seth followed 3 years later. The four lived in South Boston before moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1965. Soon after, their daughter, Arielle was born. In Halifax, Dyana taught Art at Dartmouth Academy in exchange for free tuition for Peter, Seth and Arielle.
Dyana loved the ocean. Over the next eight years, the family lived in five different coastal communities in Nova Scotia: Sambro, Ferguson Cove, Tantallon, French Village, and Indian Harbour. In Indian Harbour, she learned to scuba dive, and famously retrieved Seth’s fishing rod that had fallen to the harbour floor. She enjoyed scuba diving much more than gutting the cod the boys and their dog Baggins brought home from their daily fishing trips.
In 1973, the family moved to Sackville, where Dyana started to bloom as an artist in mixed media including canvas, wood, metal, and performance art. She had a passion for bringing art out of academia and into the community. She co-founded the Community Arts Centre in a former elementary school. With her co-founders, she taught adults and children pottery, photography, and drawing. She also co-founded the artist-run Struts Gallery, which is still in existence today. One of her most interesting pieces of work was a collaboration with two other local artists, which documented the work of the men who built cast iron stoves at the Enterprise Foundry.
In Sackville, she took up cross-country skiing and most winter weekends were spent leading the kids through trails around Beach Hill and Fort Beausejour. Dyana also found time to complete her Fine Arts Degree at Mount Allison University. In 1984, she and John separated and she moved to Montreal to pursue her artistic passions. There she became very involved in the local scene, creating artwork and working at the artist-run Galerie Sans Nom. She lived a bohemian lifestyle, first on Saint-Catherine Street and then on St Laurent Blvd, where she made wonderful friends, including her dear friend Kathy.
Dyana completed her Graduate degree in Feminist Studies at Concordia University at the age of 53. Her thesis was a feminist response to women’s languaging as influenced by politics, propaganda and practice. She was strict on how language is used in either supporting or taking away an individual’s power. One phrase from her thesis clearly defined her: “To find language which speaks my life I seek paths which have no mapping.”
After seven years in Montreal, Dyana moved to Vancouver to be closer to her daughter. She continued to work on her art and became a part of the close-knit community of artists in her neighbourhood, reconnecting with friends from the past. She loved the natural surroundings of the West Coast and trips to Hornby Island, no matter the season. She was a loving grandmother to her daughter’s boys, Gavin and Simon, taking them on adventures to local parks, the Aquarium, and the beaches. She worked at a vegetarian restaurant and became known for creating beautiful dishes of tofu, rice and vegetables, accompanied by a chilled bottle of white wine. She studied Reiki and Buddhism, and volunteered at a downtown east side community centre providing therapeutic massage to both homed and homeless residents.
In 2003, Dyana moved back to NB to try her hand at grand-mothering her East Coast grandkids, who were also growing in number. She continued to create art and had shows at the ABEC and Trinity Galleries. The last 10 years, Dyana has lived with Parkinson’s disease, which gradually reduced her mobility, where she first used a walker, and eventually a wheelchair. But as recently as this Fall, she continued to walk lengths across the back deck. She enjoyed Sunday dinners at Peter’s house but spent most of her time at her apartment on Pitt St. where she enjoyed sitting on her back deck for the morning sun, and the front step for the afternoon sun. She enjoyed going to Lilly’s Café and being served by another Diana, who welcomed her with a glass of white wine and a bowl of chowder.
Dyana was a lifelong cyclist and a strong swimmer. As a teenager in Boston, Dyana worked as a lifeguard, and in her adult years, it was common for her to swim 50 pool lengths three or four times per week. When she was at the ocean she would swim out beyond eyesight and return 40 mins later. And whichever community she was in, Dyana used her bike as her main means of transportation. She also biked to PEI twice, once with a son and once with her daughter. She biked and swam into her 70s, until injuries and Parkinson's Disease prevented her from continuing. Dyana matched her passion for movement with her love of animals and over the years, she acquired multiple cats, dogs and a lovely goat, named Bella. Her 20-year-old cat Cleo is still with us.
Growing old with Parkinson’s disease was tough, especially for someone who was so physically active. She would have preferred Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), but was grateful to live at home until she entered the hospital on September 30th. This was possible because of significant support from her children, and because of the excellent homecare she received from Terry Williams. Terry was her care worker and friend for five years and was with Dyana at her passing. The family is extremely grateful to Terry for being such a wonderful companion to Dyana, whose eyes always lit up when she entered the room.
Dyana loved Prince Edward Island, a place the family vacationed every summer while her children were still young. More recently, over the last number of years while living in Saint John, her friend Kathy would arrive from Montreal each fall for a trip to Canoe Point for two or three weeks.
Dyana will be cremated and her ashes scattered in the two oceans she loved. Arrangements for cremation are entrusted to Brenan’s Funeral Home.
Dyana is survived by her three children, Peter Asimakos (Samantha Foorsov), Seth Asimakos (Sarah Campbell) and Arielle Doyle (David); her grandchildren, Caroline, Alex, John, Christian, Emma, Gavin, Simon, Caelan and Aidan; her dear friend and companion, Kathy Bennett and her cats, Cleo and Zoe.
