DENVER (KUSA) – A woman in Colorado will have a colorful obituary after her recent death, including trying out for the Denver Broncos Cheerleaders at the age of 64.
Diane Reitz’s loved ones said the tryout was amongst a number of adventures that she believed would make for good stories to tell.
Jim Reitz said he met his wife 45 years ago. He said he knew right away she was one of a kind.
“I think the first time I ever met her was in a bar,” he said. “And she bought me a beer, and I said, ‘This might be a good one to keep.’”
Diane Reitz said she came up with the idea with some family members to spice up their obituaries, which is where the idea to try out to be a Broncos cheerleader came from.
“And I thought that would be a great thing to add to my obituary,” she said in a previous interview. “Which I’m sure many people think is very weird. No, my family and I don’t see it that way. We’re weird.”
Now, Diane Reitz’s obituary overflows with her adventures: the Broncos cheerleading tryout, skydiving, whitewater rafting, riding a motorcycle and driving a racecar.
“She was a lot of fun … she was,” Jim Reitz said.
She even became a mail-order minister, just in case.
“So she could perform a marriage if it ever came along,” Jim Reitz said.
Unfortunately, he said that opportunity never presented itself.
“No, it just never happened,” Jim Reitz said. “But she was ready to go.”
Diane and Jim Reitz experienced four decades of adventures together, cut short unexpectedly this November due to complications following a surgery.
“Yeah, as a matter of fact we were going to go to Alaska. I have to cancel that plan, I guess,” Jim Reitz said.
During her life, Diane Reitz loved to connect with people, keeping lists of everyone she knew.
“That way she could connect with everybody she hadn’t talked to in a while,” Jim Reitz said.
Now, those people are connecting with him.
“A lot of people are. That table in there is full of cards,” he said.
The Reitz family home now has a table covered in cards from many of Diane Reitz’s family, friends and loved ones. They are full of memories of her 68 years of life.
“She just loved everybody. She loved everybody,” Jim Reitz said.
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