Family

Ireland is where Diane's historical roots reside. It is from those roots that she gets her story telling nature. Diane was born in November of 1955 in Buffalo , NY . She has maintained her lifetime loyalty to the Buffalo Bills and her Irish heritage.

Married in 1976, and within six years had a family that included Christopher and Andrea'. In 1984 the family moved to Vergennes , VT. In 1989 Diane became a single parent.

As a parent of a learning disabled child, Diane is very familiar with what it takes to advocate for a child within an educational system. She knows first hand the struggles of a single mother. Laws governing child support impacted her family greatly. Without the efforts of our law makers her family would have gone without recourse. It is now Diane's turn to take up the struggles that concern families and be a voice that represents them.

Diane and Jim married in 1994, this began a new life with a family of five. Jim was a single father and lived with his son, Daniel in Vergennes.

Jim retired from The Merchants Bank and is currently an agent for The Horace Mann Insurance Co. Jim has been a member of the 40 th Army Band of the VT National Guard for 37 years and enjoys playing trumpet in several musical groups.

Diane and Jim have three grown children: Christopher Cousineau, Dan Lanpher and Andrea' Cousineau who are living exciting lives of their own. They all went to school in Vergennes and all but Dan are currently living within walking distance to Jim and Diane.

Dan graduated from the University of Maine where he met his wife, Katharine. They live outside of Philadelphia , PA with their beautiful son, Wesley and excepting a new baby in Sept of 2008.

Andrea' graduated from NECI (New England Culinary Institute) in 2006 and opened the Bearded Frog in Shelburne, VT.

Christopher, after graduating from Muskingum College in Ohio has come back to Vermont , and is currently working with students at Mt. Abe High School in Bristol , VT along with working at the Bearded Frog a few evenings. Christopher is very active in the Community as he currently serves on the Vergennes High School Board and is Justice of the Peace for Vergennes.