Cheryl D. Ridder Wade passed away on Saturday, August 12, 2023. She was born in Independence, La on January 4, 1957. She was 66 years young. Cheryl was preceded in death by her beloved husband, Danny Wade (2007), her parents, William H. Ridder (2007) and Vermie Ridder (2009), sister Patricia A. Gauthreaux (2001), and grandson Mathew Johnson (2019).

Dianne, as most people called her, and as she preferred, lived in New Orleans for a time while she was young with her parents, William H. Ridder and Vermie I. Howze Ridder, along with her sister Patricia "Patsy", and brother Dennis. Eventually they moved to Lacombe where Dianne went to school at Bayou Lacombe Middle school and high school at Slidell High (Class of 1976). After graduation, she married her high school sweetheart and lived in Slidell where they welcomed their daughter, Amanda D. Tanguis and son, Kenneth Warren Tanguis II. They divorced in 1982 and Dianne went on to marry twice more. Her final marriage was to Danny Wade in 2001. They were matched in so many ways with their love for animals, sports and their families.

Mom loved to travel and covered a lot of the southwest in her travels, winding up in Arizona for 14 years. After Danny passed, she moved to California to be near her daughter, son in law and grandchildren until 2012, when she moved back to Louisiana to be closer to her son, Kenneth and her brother, Dennis after their parents passed.

Mom had such a love for animals. She adopted many over the years and her dream was to have as much land as she could to take care of all the animals she could.

She was a very loving mom, sister, daughter, and aunt always worrying about her family. Mom always wanted to know how everyone was doing, even asking about people she had met once or twice. She was a kindhearted, spirited soul and quirky as well. Throughout her life, she loved to work with or around people.  She felt it was her lot in life to help others, so she went to college for medical assisting, and worked in Skilled Nursing Facilities in Louisiana as well as Arizona.  Mom also graduated in 2014 with a degree in Forensics and Criminal Justice. At one point she also worked at the Tulane Medical Center in New Orleans. She retired in 2018 from a job in retail and enjoyed taking care of her puppies.

Dianne is survived by her children, Kenneth Tanguis, daughter Amanda Johnson (Michael); brother, Dennis Ridder; grandchildren, Chris Johnson, Tyler Cassalata, Kevin Cassalata and Sarah Cassalata; great-grandchildren, Kylie, Lexi, Hunter and Cullen Johnson; nephews John, Chris and Joseph Gauthreaux, many cousins and friends.

Services will be held at a later date.