Diana S. Schapman

Diana S. Schapman, age 79, passed away on Wednesday, October 29, 2025. Born in Detroit on November 4, 1945, and raised in Hamtramck, Diana is the daughter of Edward and Sophie Nowaczyk.

Diana witnessed early on how the families on Lilac Street worked together toward a common goal. From attending church and celebrating holidays to finding work and forming lifelong friendships with her cousins, these experiences would shape the resilient yet tender person she would become.

Her father was a true renaissance man—capable of many things—and his passion for creating and transforming the world around him brought the family to many Michigan cities. As a young girl, Diana raced through the apple orchards in Romeo (now the Ford Proving Grounds), reveled in the wild freedom of horseback riding on a 120-acre farm in Dryden, swam in a 60-foot-deep pond on Hunter’s Creek in Imlay City, and enjoyed all the perks of lake life in Lottivue, Chesterfield, as well as surviving its historic tornado in 1964.

Her first marriage brought into the world two beautiful daughters, Christine and Karen. Life soon tested her resilience as she found herself navigating many challenges within the marriage. Through it all, Diana carried herself with strength and grace, meeting hardship with unwavering devotion to her girls while working as a bus driver for the Armada schools. She taught her daughters how to grow a vegetable garden and how to can and freeze the bounty they harvested together.

Her second marriage brought back the joys of a large family and the rhythms of farm life. Diana began working for the Romeo Schools as a bus driver and took great pride in counseling her students, helping them find ways to maintain their bus privileges and make better choices. After moving to Riley Township, she retired to a new home she was immensely proud of. Her deep belief in family loyalty and her fierce spirit to help others helped her manage.Yet through it all, she grew—finding resilience and becoming a stronger version of herself.

Only recently, Diana took flight on a new journey that was entirely her own. Never afraid to reinvent herself, even at 79, she set fear aside, and stepped boldly into the unknown, planning and creating a peaceful life—just for her. Determined to take up the space she once hesitated to claim.

Her family, friends, and acquaintances will forever cherish the many life lessons she left as her legacy: her love as a mother and grandmother, her immense loyalty to family, her unwavering friendship, her trustworthiness as a coworker, her dedication as a birthday, anniversary and holiday card-sender (often with a pierogi delivery), her infectious laugh, her unrelenting strength, her humility to ask for and listen to advice, and her willingness to brush it off and start again.

Diana is survived by her daughters Christine (Robert) Sherman and granddaughter Samanth Milarski of Tacoma Washington; Karen Eby (Christopher Maisano) and granddaughters Meah and Elise Maisano of Allenton; great-grandson Roger Milarski, brother Larry (Karen) Nowaczyk of Ludington, Jim and (Kathy) Nowaczyk of Clay Township, sister-in-law Sharon Nowaczyk of Rio Verde, Arizona, husband Fred Schapman, nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, and many Schapman children and grandchildren. Dianna was preceded in death by her grandson Lucas Milarski of Tacoma Washington, brother Garry (Sharon) Nowaczyk of Fort Mohave, Arizona; and first husband Roger Eby.

A memorial service will take place on November 16, 2025 from 1 to 3 at the Henry M. Malburg Funeral Home. 

Interested parties who would like to share a memory, will be provided the time to do so at the memorial service.