A “Celebration of Life” memorial service for Diana Cusumano, who died Friday, April 18, will be held 10:30 a.m. Thursday, May 29 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church, 23233 Lyons Ave., Santa Clarita, CA 91321.

Cusumano died at age 79 after a battle with cancer. She was the 2006 Santa Clarita Valley Woman of the Year and the 2011 College of the Canyons Silver Spur Award for Community Service.

She was known for her decades of volunteer work with nonprofits in the SCV.

Cusumano moved to the SCV in 1981 with her husband, Gary, who retired as CEO of The Newhall Land and Farming Co. in 2006, and their three children.

She was a longtime advocate for education. She became involved with education initiatives at all levels as her children moved through the school systems in the SCV.

At Wiley Canyon School Cusumano served as Site Council President, PTA board member, was a three-year volunteer reading specialist and ESL tutor and created the first Math Triathlon fundraiser.

She chaired the founding board of the Newhall Elementary School District Foundation, which allowed funds collected in the district could stay in the schools and be tax-deductible. At Hart High School she became a member of the Parent Association board and also a member of the Hart Auditorium Angels.

At College of the Canyons, Cusumano became an advocate for the school through the College of the Canyons Foundation and the culinary arts program. She is credited with helping to establish the Institute for Culinary Education (iCUE) at College of the Canyons. The Diana L. Cusumano iCUE Scholarship supports students pursuing culinary education at the college.

In addition to her volunteer work in education, Cusumano also was involved in numerous SCV nonprofits.

She was a board member of the Sheila R. Veloz Breast Imaging Center at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital and a volunteer at the Boys & Girls Club Auction. She served as a COC Foundation board member and has served on the Education Scholarship committee and the Library Associates committee. She also worked on nearly every Silver Spur Award for Community Service fundraising dinner event since 1989.

Cusumano has been a member of the Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital Guild, serving as Guild president and chair of the Silver Rose Debutante Ball and a member of the HMNMH Home Tour League. She also served as chair of the Holiday Home Tour for three years and co-chaired a design home for four years.

She was a volunteer at the SCV Child & Family Center for more than two decades, where she served as a member of “Kares,” a member of the Golf Tournament committee and the “Taste of the Town” committee and was a board member of the Child & Family Center Foundation.

Cusumano was a founding member of the SCV Heart Association board and provided two years of in-service training for elementary school teachers. She also served on the board of the Betty Ferguson Foundation where she chaired the Education Advancement Forum and helped create a $100,000 COC Foundation scholarship endowment.

In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to the Diana L. Cusumano iCUE Scholarship at COC.

Donations can be made by mailing a check payable to the COC Foundation. Donors are asked to include “Diana L. Cusumano iCUE Scholarship” in the memo line. The foundation’s mailing address is 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road, Santa Clarita, CA 91355.

For more information on donations visit www.canyons.edu/administration/foundation/donate.php.