Diana Ramsey Russell-Schulz
February 20, 1957 – October 1, 2026
Diana Ramsey Russell-Schulz, 69, of Decatur, Alabama, where she made her home with her beloved husband, Carl Schulz, moved to her Heavenly home at 2:42 a.m. on Thursday, October 1, 2026.
Diana was diagnosed with lung cancer in March 2025 and had been responding successfully to treatment. In the weeks preceding her passing, she began experiencing a fluid buildup in her lung and was admitted to the hospital for treatment. During that time, doctors discovered an infection affecting her heart. Over the following days, Diana experienced cardiac arrest and ultimately passed away from heart failure.
Diana, was born on February 20, 1957, in Middlesboro, Kentucky, to Ewing and Juanita Ramsey. She spent her early years in Tazewell, Tennessee, and graduated from Tazewell High School in 1975.
Education would become not only Diana’s profession, but one of the great passions of her life. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1979, and her Master of Education degree from East Tennessee State University in 1990.
For 33 years, Diana devoted her life to educating children from kindergarten through fifth grade. Although not having children of her own, she did far more than teach lessons from books—she loved her students, encouraged them, believed in them, and considered the many children who passed through her classrooms to be, in a very special way, her own.
Her extraordinary commitment to education did not go unnoticed. Diana was honored in Who’s Who Among American Teachers in 1996. In 2004, she was recognized by the Tennessee Department of Education as Teacher of the Year. During the final seven years of her educational career, she served with the Tennessee Academic Specialist Program as a reading coach, helping both students and educators develop the skills that would change young lives. In 2012, she was recognized for her outstanding contribution to that work.
But Diana was so much more than her accomplishments.
She was a gifted artist, an excellent pianist, and a beautiful singer—a voice those who loved her will miss here on earth, but one that surely has found its place among the songs of Heaven.
Above all, Diana was passionate about her faith and her love for Jesus Christ. Her faith was not simply something she professed; it shaped the way she lived and the way she loved. She was generous, compassionate, thoughtful, and deeply faithful to her family and friends. Diana possessed a special ability to make people feel cared for. Her love was often expressed through the thoughtful things she did, the kindness she showed, and the quiet ways she let people know they mattered.
Diana is survived by her husband, Carl Schulz; her sister, Sherry Couch; two nieces, Marty Price and Karen Houston; as well as the many former students whose lives she touched and whom she lovingly considered her children.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Ewing and Juanita Ramsey, and her sister, Sandra Ramsey.
A service celebrating Diana’s life and faith will be held Monday, October 12, 2026, at 11:00 a.m. at Shelton Funeral Home, 2105 Beltline Road SW, Decatur, Alabama.
In closing, for those who knew Diana, October 1 was a day of profound earthly loss. But for Diana, whose life was anchored in Jesus Christ, it was also the day that a lifetime of faith became eternal sight.
So the teacher who has now entered the presence of the One who had taught her how to love.
The artist who now beholds beauty beyond anything she could have painted.
The pianist who has heard the music of Heaven and gave it wings here on earth.
And the singer who has now joined in a song that will never end.
We now sit here together, knowing you are finally home!
Those who loved Diana will miss her presence, her compassion, her music, her laughter, and the thoughtful love she gave so freely. But we do not say goodbye without hope. We can only say to our sweet Diana.
“Well done, good and faithful servant… Enter into the joy of your lord.” — Matthew 25:23
Diana spent her life teaching children how to read, how to learn, and how to believe in themselves. Through her faith, she taught something even greater: how to live with love, how to serve with compassion, and how to leave this world trusting completely in Jesus.
Her classroom on earth may now be empty.
But her life’s greatest lesson remains in every heart she touched. “Live life fully, love all lavishly, and give yourself freely.”
