Diane Joens

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.Diane Joens is the former Mayor of Cottonwood. She moved to Arizona in 1953 and was raised in Sierra Vista. Later her family moved to Iowa where she met her husband Paul. They farmed for 15 years raising corn, soybeans and hogs. They moved to Cottonwood in 1986. Diane was elected mayor of Cottonwood in 2007 and served on the city council in 2003. She worked with the team that planned the Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans event in Cottonwood and the Vietnam Traveling Wall. She also worked on the Homes for Our Troops team that raised $26,000 for the Sgt. Jordan Maynard home in Cottonwood. She is a member of the Ladies Auxiliary Post 25 and a lifetime member of the VFW Post 7400 Ladies Auxiliary. Diane’s husband, Paul, served in the Army three years, from early 1967 through 1969. He received basic training in Ft. Bliss, Texas. From there he completed advanced training in heavy equipment mechanics at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia. For a year-and-a-half he was a heavy equipment mechanic and operator with the 78th Combat Engineers Battalion, stationed in Ettlington, Germany. He then served a year in the 15th Combat Engineers, Battalion 9th Infantry Division, as a heavy equipment operator in the Mekong Delta area of Vietnam.  Paul was honorably discharged on Christmas Day, 1969, and was decorated with the Bronze Star Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Vietnam Campaign Medal.