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Captain Diane J. Diekman, USN (ret.)
“enlisted in the U.S. Navy. After two years as an aviation storekeeper, she attended officer candidate school and earned
a commission in 1975. Designated an aeronautical maintenance duty officer in 1979, Diane was promoted to captain in 1997.
She commanded Defense Contract Management Agency Van Nuys in Los Angeles , and her final Navy assignment was the Office of
the Naval Inspector General. Diane J. Diekman is the author of Navy Greenshirt: A Leader Made,
Not Born; Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story; and, A Farm In the Hidewood: My South Dakota Home.
According to the book description of
Navy Greenshirt: A Leader Made, Not Born, “When Diane Diekman became an aviation maintenance
officer (a "greenshirt") in the U.S. Navy in 1978, her challenges included proving herself professionally before
gaining the acceptance and respect routinely granted to men. _Navy Greenshirt: A Leader Made, Not Born_ is the story of a
female pioneer who struggled and succeeded in the male-dominated world of naval aviation. The commanding officer of her first
squadron fired her when she failed his hidden test to assert herself as a leader. That painful lesson strengthened the timid
South Dakota farm girl and defined her future leadership style. Navy Greenshirt, which offers hope to men and women not born
to lead, describes the experiences that molded Diekman into a successful leader.”
According to the book description
of Live Fast, Love Hard: The Faron Young Story, “As one of the best-known honky tonkers to
appear in the wake of Hank Williams’s death, Faron Young was a popular presence on Nashville’s music scene for
more than four decades. The Singing Sheriff produced a string of Top Ten hits, placed over eighty songs on the country music
charts, and founded the long-running country music periodical Music City News in 1963. Flamboyant, impulsive, and generous,
he helped and encouraged a new generation of talented songwriter-performers that included Willie Nelson and Bill Anderson.
In 2000, four years after his untimely death, Faron was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Presenting the first detailed portrayal of this
lively and unpredictable country music star, Diane Diekman masterfully draws on extensive interviews with Young’s family,
band members, and colleagues. Impeccably researched, Diekman’s narrative also weaves anecdotes from Louisiana Hayride
and other old radio shows with ones from Young’s business associates, including Ralph Emery. Her unique insider’s
look into Young’s career adds to an understanding of the burgeoning country music entertainment industry during the
key years from 1950 to 1980, when the music expanded beyond its original rural roots and blossomed into a national (ultimately,
international) enterprise. Echoing Young’s characteristic ability to entertain and surprise fans, Diekman combines an
account of his public career with a revealing, intimate portrait of his personal life.
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