Diane Marie Wiggin (Torgerson) , 71

Diane Marie  Wiggin (Torgerson) Dec. 28, 1952 — Dec. 28, 2023.

Diane Marie Wiggin (Torgerson) passed away unexpectedly at her home in Lakeside on Dec. 28 due to an undiagnosed heart condition on her 71st birthday. We are devastated that she never made it to her birthday dinner party. 

Diane was the firstborn of Ray and Sylvia Olson, and was raised in the Flathead Valley, making her a fourth-generation Montanan. Diane attended grade school at Hedges Elementary, middle school at Linderman and graduated from Flathead High School in 1971. In her earlier years, she was a Girl Scout and also was involved in the youth group at Bethlehem Lutheran Church. During her high school years, she was co-editor of the school paper and was involved in the production of the yearbook. The family spent time year-round at the family cabin on Bitterroot Lake from 1967 to 1972.

In 1972, she married Tom Torgerson and together they attended college at the University of Montana, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in business education and later obtained her teaching certificate. After college, they moved back to the Flathead Valley where she was hired for her first teaching job teaching first and second grade at Batavia School, earning just $7,000 in her first year. While she was teaching, she also worked in Tom’s CPA office, kept the books for Savrud Paint Shop, and juggled other small jobs. Diane and Tom had two sons together, Robbie and Ryan. When Tom and Diane separated in 1990, Diane remained single, raising her two sons, and continued her career as a teacher: first at FVCC teaching business and then starting in 1994 at Whitefish High School teaching many subjects including business, accounting, keyboarding, computer applications, and an evening adult ed class. She retired from Whitefish High School in 2012 but continued to substitute teach for the next several years. 

Diane loved Glacier National Park and enjoyed midnight bike rides on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, spending time with her Tuesday ladies’ group of hiking friends, and on several occasions, she managed to secure the highly coveted reservations for Granite Park and Sperry Chalets and made special memories there with Robbie and Ryan; of which some of those times she may have enjoyed more than they did. Her last stay in the chalets was at Sperry in 2022 at the age of 69. In the summer of 2023, she hiked to Ptarmigan Tunnel, a hike that she had always wanted to do. Glacier wasn’t the only place she ventured to; making memories floating the Lochsa River in Idaho with her boys, biking the Hiawatha Trail with friends, picking huckleberries in the South Fork and staying at Forest Service cabins with her girlfriends, even cross-country skiing in during wintertime to stay. She took the opportunity to go to Ecuador with Shepherds Hand, helping the youth of that country.   

Giving her time and being involved in the community was important to her: Diane volunteered for CASA, advocating with the courts for minors in foster care; she was an active member of Sons of Norway, serving as secretary, and participating in hosting the annual lutefisk dinner at Bethlehem Lutheran Church, to name a few. 

In 2014, Diane married longtime friend, Tom Wiggin. They enjoyed warm days at the Wiggin family cabin on Flathead Lake and adventures together including an African safari and yearly trips to eastern Montana, before Tom’s health declined and they no longer could travel. 

One of her happiest promotions was that of “Grandma.” Few things brought her more joy than to spend time with her granddaughters, and the smile on her face (and all the photos on her phone!) was proof of that. We are so sad that she won’t get to meet the next granddaughter on the way. She loved her sons and her family and knew the love they had for her.

If one word would describe Diane, it would be “caregiver” as she was always tending to and caring for others. She cared for her father in his last years, and her husband, Tom Wiggin, during their last few years of marriage. When he passed away in January 2023, she focused her caregiving and love more intently on her mother and on her sister-in-law, always giving, loving, and thinking of others.

She is preceded in death by her father Ray Olson (2018) and her husband Tom Wiggin (2023). Diane is survived by her mother, Sylvia Olson; brother Mark (Julie) Olson; sons Robbie (Abigail and granddaughter Bella) and Ryan; nephew Jarrett (Kaylene) Olson; and her husband Tom Wiggin’s children and grandchildren: Wendy Borak (Darrell, Cierra and Paige), Connery Wiggin (Sarah Turner, Madison, and Ardendria) and Stasia Creek (Nate). 

A memorial service honoring Diane and her life will be held on Saturday, Feb. 3, 2024, at 11 a.m. at Bethlehem Lutheran Church with a lunch to follow. All are welcome and invited. 

As we said to her many times after an afternoon spent with her at Bitterroot Lake, we say once more: “See you later, drive safe, I love you.”