Diane Schuitema

Diane Joan (Rozycki) Schuitema, 74, of Jenison, Michigan, passed away peacefully on December 24, 2025. Her passing on Christmas Eve (always Diane’s favorite night to host and celebrate with family) simply gives the day greater significance going forward for her loved ones, who will toast and remember her each holiday.

Born in Muskegon in 1951 to Peter and Constance Rozycki, Diane was the fourth of four children. She graduated from Muskegon High School in 1969, and two years later, upon his return from the Vietnam War, she married her high-school sweetheart, Bruce Schuitema. Over the fifty-four years that followed, they remained each other’s best friends and true loves.

For many years, Diane was a full-time parent to her children, Adam and Amy, both of whom daily experienced their mom’s gifts of empathy, patience, enthusiasm, and unconditional love. When her children got older and Diane sought a return to the workforce, she wanted to use those gifts to do good in the wider world. Inspired by years of caring for her own parents late in their lives, she served as Activities Director at Georgetown & Cambridge Manors Assisted Living. For nearly twenty years, Diane organized games, art projects, visiting performers, and field trips—bringing joy and light to the residents through her infectious positive energy.

Over her lifetime, she and Bruce visited Mackinac Island an incredible sixty times, each trip documented by Diane in a set of journals. They honeymooned there. They brought their family there. And this past fall on their anniversary, Bruce brought Diane there one last time. For more than half a century, the island served as the backdrop for some of her and her loved ones’ happiest moments—moments during which she would often announce, “We’re making memories!”

After retirement, Diane devoted herself to making memories with her grandchildren: Tyler, Elizabeth, Flynn, and Aryia. They were her world, and she took no greater joy than spending time playing board games, making gingerbread houses, taking them to parks and movies, attending their sporting events and recitals, and simply laughing and making them laugh.

Diane Schuitema was lovely. She was selfless. And she was the best person many of us have ever known.

Diane is preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Peter Rozycki. She is survived by her husband Bruce, her son Adam Schuitema (and his partner Abby Klomparens), her daughter Amy Hanson (and her husband Adam), her four grandchildren, and her two sisters, Rita Ferenz and Linda (Gary) Cline.

Visitation is Sunday, January 4 from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m. at Matthysse Kuiper DeGraaf Funeral Home, 4145 Chicago Dr., Grandville, Michigan.