06/02/2026
Diane Rappleye
Diane Rappleye - judge, mother, sister, aunt, friend, and unrepentant love of an afternoon in the sun, passed on May 18, 2026 at the age of 65.
Diane was born in Jackson, Michigan and grew up on "the East side of town" where she established lifelong friendships. She attended St. John's Elementary School then Jackson Catholic Middle School and Lumen Christi High School. She spoke fondly about the memories created while growing up on Pleasant Street, often reliving these memories with her friends at the Polish Falcons for Lenten fish fries or while dancing the polka at the annual St. Joe's Festival.
After graduating from Eastern Michigan University, Diane served as legal secretary for Willard Rappleye while commuting to Lansing to attend night classes at Cooley Law School following the birth of her eldest daughter, Erin. She joined the family firm, Rappleye & Rappleye, practicing alongside Willard and her former husband, Bill, focusing on probate work and the difficult but necessary cases involving child abuse and neglect. In 2005, Diane ran for judge for the first time, and won.
For over 17 years, Diane sat on the Jackson County probate bench, where she presided over moments often unmarked in a courthouse: parents of all kinds and their children formally becoming a family in the eyes of the law, a person legally claiming the name they had always carried inside them, and protecting the neglected. She loved her job, especially adoption days. A wide smile accompanied every retelling of a newly adopted child marking their adoption with a celebratory strike of her gavel. She viewed the bench as a platform to safeguard the vulnerable, believing her role served a purpose beyond judgment, and she ran her courtroom accordingly.
She was extraordinarily generous, always thinking of other people, and she was assured in her convictions in a way that her daughters and their friends grew up watching, absorbing, and emulating. She modeled feminism not as a position to defend but as a way to walk through the world. She loved her daughters and her family as fiercely as one could. She liked to attend concerts and loved evenings on the lake fishing. Her favorite days were spent having friends and family over to the pool followed by a cookie dough and peanut butter cup flurry from Cascades, never forgetting a pup cup for her beloved dog Myah. In her younger years, she traveled widely with her dearest friend, Sheila Gallant, whose children, Anne and Drew, Diane loved as her own.
Diane was preceded in death by her parents, Mary-Lou and Jim; her sister, Sue; her mother and father-in-law, Dolores and Willard; her sisters-in-law, Nancy and Lori; and her beloved friend, Julie Cummings.
She is survived by her three daughters, Erin, Jessa, and Brette, along with Brette's partner, Jacob; her former husband, Bill Rappleye, who steadfastly remained one of the closest figures in her life; her brothers, Tom (Dana) Kaplinski and Jim (Diana) Kaplinski; her brother-in-law, Dr. David Woltmann (Mickie); her four nephews and two nieces; Bill's siblings and their children, who were her family in every way that mattered; and her best friend, Sheila Gallant.
A service will be held at Desnoyer Funeral Home on Friday, June 19 at 11:00 AM. The family will receive friends at the Desnoyer Funeral Home on Thursday, June 18th from 5:00 to 8:00 PM and on Friday, June 19 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to Leader Dogs for the Blind, 1039 South Rochester Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48307, an organization close to Diane and her family's hearts.
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