Dianne King Kousoulos

(Aug. 10, 1934 - May 11, 2012)

Dianne King Kousoulos, 77, of Cody died peacefully May 11, 2012 surrounded by her family at West Park Hospital.

Dianne was born Aug. 10, 1934 in Hollywood, Calif., to George R. and Inez King. She and her family moved to Cody in February of 1946.  Dianne grew up as a child at Wapiti Lodge and attended Wapiti School through the eigth grade. She spent many wonderful years having fun with her older brother Reuben and older sister Sue. She attended her high school years in Cody. She lived with the Girty family for two years and spent her senior year with Grandma and Grandpa Apostolou.

At the age of 19 on her graduation day, she got engaged to the love of her life Louis A. Kousoulos. They married that fall on Oct. 8, 1953. This year would have been their 59th wedding anniversary. Louis and Dianne had three children, Sheila, Alan and Tammi. Dianne’s life revolved around her family, golfing, cards and her friends.

Louis and Dianne bought the Mayflower Café from Louis Kousoulos, Sr. in the early 1950s, which they spent many long hours making it one of the better places in Cody to eat. Later, they added to the upstairs of the Mayflower and started the Golden Eagle restaurant. In 1970 Louis and Dianne went into business with Doc Bluher and opened up the King’s Castle where they spent many more long years, making it one of the best places in Cody for fine dining. Louis and Dianne spent many, many long hours keeping the Mayflower Café and King’s Castle running at top notch. Also at this time they catered the cafeteria at Husky Oil. They had a very large catering business and a Forest Service contract to feed fire fighters.

Dianne’s passion for many years was golfing. Everybody knew where to find Dianne during the summer months, at the Olive Glenn Golf Course!  She received many a birthday card from JR at the country club. She traveled around the state and participated in many golf tournaments. She was very active in helping junior golfers and the National Young Women’s tournament, and donated countless hours to promote golf. She was a member of Olive Glenn up until the time of her death, even though she had to give up golfing years before due to an injury. She served two consecutive terms on the Olive Glenn Board of Directors. She was the only person to have a double eagle on the golf course and won many club championships. Later in life, Louis and Dianne both took up flying to better facilitate their golfing passion.

Dianne is survived by her devoted and loving husband JR, daughter Sheila (Rick) Asher, son Alan, daughter Tammi  (Mike) Pobuda, brother Reuben (Mickey) King, sister Sue Dutton, eight grandchildren, 18 great grandchildren, numerous nieces, nephews and cousins. Dianne was preceded in death by her parents.

A celebration of Dianne’s life will be held at the Christ Episcopal Church at 11 a.m. Friday May 18 with interment at Cody Riverside Cemetery. Memorial donations can be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital or Cody High School Golf.