Diana Hart

Diana Leann Hart of Hill City, South Dakota, age 55, passed away peacefully and surrounded by family at home Dec. 6, 2025. 

She was born  Jan. 2, 1970, in Hutchinson, Kan., to Theodore A. and Carol June Stoughton. She was a graduate of Buhler High School, Hutchinson Community College and Black Hills State University with a degree in education and an endorsement as a teacher of English as a Second Language. 

During the summer of 1989 while working at Yellowstone National Park, she met Rodney “Rod” Hart. The two fell in love and were married Nov. 3, 1990, in Hutchinson. For 35 years of marriage, they lived at Yellowstone then at Mt. Rushmore National Memorial, raising their children as Rod worked for the National Park Service. 

She was proud of the 19 years she spent as a 2nd grade teacher at the Rockyford School in the Oglala Lakota County School District. She was passionate about learning, understanding and teaching the language and culture of the Lakota Sioux to her students. During a ceremony celebrating her work at the school, she was honored to be adopted into the Lakota Sioux family receiving the name, Tewahila Ota Win, which in English means “Loved by many.” 

She will be remembered as a loving and committed wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, sister and friend. 

Diana is survived by her husband, Rod; daughter, Cassidy; son, Ivan; and his wife, Amanda, with their two sons, Tristin and Beckett; father, Ted and his wife, Betty; sisters, Angel, and her husband Steve, Julie and her husband, Jay, and Rachel and her husband, John; brother, Zachary, and his wife Juliana; brother-in-law, Alan; sister-in-law, Michelle; and seven nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her mother, Carol; brother, Joshua; father-in-law, Ivan; and mother-in-law, Lee.

A memorial service will take place Saturday, Jan. 3, at 10 a.m. at the Little White Church in Hill City, S.D. 

Please share your memories of Diana at OsheimSchmidt.com.