rowing up in the Mayberry-like town of Smiths Grove, senior Hannah Dieball was able to enjoy the simplicity of a small town and the joys of having a close-knit, conventional family.
Dieball said she was able to discover and fulfill her aspiration of being a teacher through the inspiration from her parents.
She said she spent her days baking cookies with her mom, building a tree house with her dad or just playing outside with her three sisters.
Dieball said though Smiths Grove’s only main attractions are antique shops, she loved growing up in a place where “you didn’t have to lock your doors.”
Dieball made time for fun, but academics were still very important to her as a child because teaching was already in her blood.
Marianne Dieball, her mother, had been a teacher before her children were born.
“She understood how to teach others,” Marianne Dieball said. “That was something very natural to her.”
Marianne Dieball said quiet, well-mannered Hannah Dieball had one specific trait that would be useful in her future as a teacher.
“Her inner-peace makes people feel peaceful around her,” she said.
Teaching was intuitive for Dieball, but she said her parents influenced her to follow through with her goal.
“Both of my parents are very inspirational,” she said. “They demonstrate such character and determination.”
After her father was severely injured in a bicycle accident in 1999, Dieball said she got a reality check and an understanding of what it really means to endure.
“He would be in his wheelchair at every soccer game of me and my sisters,” she said. “He was so determined not to let that stand in his way.”
Beyond the inspiration from her parents, Dieball said working with children in an after-school program at St. Joseph Catholic School has been self-affirming.
“They’re just so eager to learn and everything is so wonderful and new to them,” she said. “You can see the difference it makes spending time with them.”
Soulith Saysanavong, Dieball’s fiance and a Western graduate, said he can see that she is very devoted to what she does.
When they met at a convention five years ago, he realized they were opposites.
“She was so outgoing and energetic,” he said. “I’m conservative and boring. She was doing things I wouldn’t do. That’s what attracted me.”
Saysanavong said Dieball knew how to have fun, but her mother’s traditional values are instilled in her to this day.
“She’s very religious, but very considerate of other people,” he said. “She’s not judgmental.”
Saysanavong said as a best friend and a fiancee, Dieball always is able to keep the communication lines open.
He said Dieball’s traditional upbringing is part of the reason why she is so special.
“She’s a classy girl,” Saysanavong said. “You just don’t find that anymore. People look for that, and I feel fortunate to have that.”
Reach Stephanie Toone at features@wkuherald.com.
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