Marguerite Dianne Ashmore

Marguerite Dianne Ashmore was born August 4, 1943 in Columbus, Mississippi, to Emerson Alton Partridge and Betty Jane Hawn. Her first name came from her paternal-grandmother, but she never liked it because it was so easily mispronounced and misspelled.  She always went by her middle name, but it irked her when that was misspelled too. She grew up in Warren, Ohio, and graduated with the class of 1960 from Howland High School. She left Ohio with her sweetheart for California and had her first child with Daniel Joseph Anderson. Later came a divorce and another father, John Stephen Starr, for her third child. In between those relationships came a child who was put up for adoption, but with whom she was able to reunite 30 years later. Dianne cherished that relationship until he (Robert Carrol Masters II) passed away in December 2018. She took college classes in banking and computers (the ones that took up a whole room and a week to do a simple math problem). At one point, she worked as a mechanic on airplanes and told the story of coming back from a lunch break and falling off the wing because she was so drunk. Dianne finally found the love of her life and the gospel with William “Bill” Raymond Ashmore, Jr.  and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She had four children with Bill. She was a Magic Mill distributor and a “top-seller” with him. They even had their own store or two while in California. She opened her home to several children through the church’s Indian Placement Program. She spent a few summers at Girls’ Camps and hiked Mount Whitney. With the family, she moved to Missouri for a year before coming to Utah. Here she became an office manager for a dentist in Orem.
Dianne earned her Bachelor’s degree in 1987 and finished her Master’s in Elementary Education from Utah State University in 1991. She helped in a school in Manilla, taught at Roosevelt Middle and East Elementary School and volunteered as an EMT. She taught 6th grade at Sandy Elementary for two years and at Draper Elementary for two years. She taught 6th grade (ALPS program) at Westland Elementary for 11 years before going on a LDS church mission to Samoa with Bill from 2001-2003. She went on to teach in Somerton, Arizona, then returned to Utah, where she taught 5th grade for two years at Coral Cliffs before moving to Coral Canyon Elementary. Dianne often said the worst thing she ever did was retire from teaching, from being “Mrs. A.” She loved making a difference in the kids’ lives and seeing the light in their eyes when they finally understood something. She always welcomed little hugs from them as thanks.
Dianne often accompanied Bill on the piano when he sang; later singing in the St. George area herself. He passed away 15 years ago and left a big hole in her life. She tried to fill that hole with a Doberman puppy, Koi, who sadly passed at the beginning of December 2022. She hated living alone and finally married Jerry Marvin Stockett who died in February 2020. Her youngest daughter, Rachael, passed away in June of the same year. She then moved in with her middle daughter, Djuana, where she lived out the rest of her life.
Dianne liked the color purple and bunnies. She purchased just over seven and a half acres in Apple Valley (Utah) for a rabbitry and has had her youngest son, Roger, manage the place for her. She spent most of her time doing genealogy and making quilts for her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, including some she adopted as her own. She taught tons of kids how to play the piano. She was an ordinance worker at several temples. Everything she cooked had to have lots of chopped onions and garlic–she felt there was no flavor otherwise.
Dianne’s spirit left her mortal body in the early hours of Friday the 13th, January 2023. She leaves behind a sister (Janet Rae Stowers), five children (Yvonne, Djuana, William “Marty” Martin, Shawn and Roger), 30 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren.
Her grave will be dedicated on January 25, 2023 at Memorial Mountain View Cemetery; 3115 E 7800 S (Bengal Blvd) Cottonwood Heights, Utah, 84121
Feel free to come by early and/or stay after to peruse a display and/or write down memories of how she has touched your life.
Service Information

Graveside Service
January 25, 2023 at 1:00 pm
3115 E 7800 S (Bengal Blvd) Cottonwood Heights, Utah