While documentation such as an obituary written by loving family gives most of the highlights of one’s life, so much more can never be known. Diana first met Russell Woollen in early 1960 shortly after she and Tom were engaged. Tom had known Russell for a few years prior, since the Harvard Glee Club toured throughout Europe in the mid- to late 1950s. (At Tom’s graduation Diana was introduced to the young US Senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy.)
In 1961, shortly after moving to Washington, DC, as Diana and Tom began performing every more frequently with the National Symphony, they encountered Russell who by that time was keyboardist with the orchestra for over a decade. Russell had also left the priesthood to marry his first wife, Carolyn, who had been a CIA operative and whose sister was married to Washington Post music critic Paul Hume. (Hume’s greatest fame stemmed from a review of Margaret Truman that provoked an irate letter from the President that was inadvertently mailed. Over a decade later, Hume and Truman met and became friends.)
On 31 October 1974, Diana took me to the Kennedy Center to hear Nicanor Zabeleta perform the Ginastera Harp Concerto with the National Symphony. Before the performance began Kenny Pasmanick, principal bassoonist and former pupil of Diana’s father, came into the audience to greet Diana who he had not seen for some time. As they were almost done conversing, Russell saw Diana and they began catching up on news since their last encounter.
Diana asked “Russellino” if his daughter, Christina, was still studying harp and, when he answered “yes,” she introduced him to me at which point he invited us to a birthday party to be held at his home a couple weeks later.
Beyond admiring his being an accomplished musician and gourmet cook, Diana loved Russellino’s ability to speak fluently in her native southern Italian dialect. The only other non-Italian she encountered who had that ability was John Moriarty.