I met Dianne Ellingson the day I walked into my seventh-grade English class at Baker Middle School.

I was 13.

She passed away May 9, 2023 — the day I turned 44.

She taught my English class in eighth grade, too, then moved to Baker High School where I took her courses again, and my senior year she asked me to be her teacher’s assistant.

I don’t recall exact details about those English lessons, although I know Homer’s “The Odyssey” quite well after reading it twice, and all those grammar lessons, surely, are lodged in my brain forever.

But what I do remember is how she talked to us, and laughed with us, and truly cared about each of us.

The last time I saw Mrs. Ellingson — yes, she wanted me to call her Dianne, but I still think of her as Mrs. Ellingson — she was at a high school basketball game with her husband, Rob.

As she walked down the hall toward me, her eyes twinkled and she grinned, her voice nearly tipping into her wonderful laugh.

I’ll miss her laugh.

I wonder, sometimes, about an alternate life, one where I didn’t come back to Baker after college to start a career and get married and raise a family.

It’s possible, I suppose, that I never would have seen her again after graduating from Baker High School.

Fortunately, I did return to my hometown.

Mrs. Ellingson brought a gift of books when my daughter, Olivia, was born 16 years ago.

I often saw her walking with a friend on the Leo Adler Memorial Parkway, where she always made time to share a smile, a laugh, or a story.

When we opened the new playground at Geiser-Pollman Park, she came to the ceremony and bounced on the new surface with Gene Rose — both were representing the Leo Adler Community Foundation, of which she was a trustee.

Mrs. Ellingson didn’t just teach me English lessons — she taught me, by example, how to make someone feel valued with something as simple as a smile and “hello.”

Kelly Nork, who graduated from Baker High School in 1996, also met Mrs. Ellingson as a seventh-grader.

“To me, she was such a lady — quintessentially always a lady,” Nork said.

And she gave Nork advice that still resonates today.

“One of the most profound things she ever said to me was that you must learn to communicate, both verbally and in written language — ‘Learn to articulate your needs to be understood.’ For me, this had been key to many of my life’s successes.”

Later, Nork took college writing from Mrs. Ellingson through Blue Mountain Community College.

“She was so wonderful, so articulate. She embodied what you want to be as a mother, a teacher, a woman.”

Mrs. Ellingson exemplified the importance of giving back to the place you call home by becoming a volunteer — she spent countless hours reading scholarship and grant applications, and talking to local groups about the Leo Adler Foundation.

She was a member of the PEO Chapter AX, active at First Lutheran Church, and played bridge every week at the golf course.

“She has definitely left a hole,” said LaVelle Woodcock-Raley, who plays with the bridge group on Wednesdays. “Dianne was so considerate, kind and thoughtful to everyone. She just loved to see people succeed at anything they tried.”

Mrs. Ellingson didn’t grow up here — she was born in Sioux City, Iowa.

But she embraced Baker City and its people — she taught English for 40 years, cheered at countless sporting events, and helped decide how to award funds that would benefit this place she chose to live.

And her passion, her dedication, was woven into all parts of her life.

“Her honesty, her caring, her commitment is how she parented,” said Thomas, the youngest of her three sons.

Her family, he said, received note after note detailing the effect his mom had on students, friends, and so many more.

He had her as an English teacher in middle school and high school.

“She made me call her Mrs. Ellingson,” he said, his voice hinting at a laugh so much like his mom’s.

Teaching, he said, was her life’s purpose.

“Teaching wasn’t just her profession, it was her passion,” he said.

Thomas delivered the eulogy at her funeral on June 3. He spoke of the tremendous impact his mom had on her community — and the impact she had at home.

“So how was it being her son?”

“You already know the answer. Because the friend you had, the teacher you had, was the same loving, caring and committed person that I had as a mom.

“We were all so lucky.”

It’s been 25 years since I received my diploma from Baker High School, and I still have the address book Mrs. Ellingson gave me as a gift — signed, of course, in her beautiful cursive handwriting.

The quote I shared during graduation, credited to Flavia Weedn, captures how I will always feel about Mrs. Ellingson:

“Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never, ever the same.”