A deeply devoted daughter, Diane Young, has included the Alzheimer's Association in her will to honor her mother and her legendary smile.

Diane Young's mother, Ms. Rosetta, was known for her radiating smile and had always been an excellent cook. But one day, Diane's tastebuds were caught off guard. Ms. Rosetta made a pot of collard greens so salty that it made Diane's face reveal an unexpected truth.

"She put the entire container of salt in the pot with the collard greens," Diane recalls. "But of course, my dad didn't say anything. While I said 'Oh, wow, Mom, this is too salty.'"

While caring for their father, Mr. James, who had leukemia, Diane and her siblings had started noticing their mother's memory issues and behavior changes. Eventually, Ms. Rosetta stopped cooking and withdrew from activities she once loved.

After their father passed, the siblings learned he had known about their mother's dementia but chose to care for her himself, never telling them.

"That was my dad," Diane says.

Losing her husband was hard on Ms. Rosetta.

"She cried every day, saying 'I miss my husband,'" Diane says. "Seeing my mother grieve like that broke my heart. I could see her starting to get depressed, and we could not let that happen to our mom. We're a supporting and loving family."

Diane quit her job to care for her mother at home, with long-distance support from her siblings, as well as church members, family and friends. She learned about the Alzheimer's Association through a friend, but "you know how some caregivers are, 'I don’t need them, I can do it myself.' I was one of those," she says.

Diane soon came to appreciate what the Association has to offer. In 2021, she decided to do a fundraiser for the Association in honor of Ms. Rosetta's 101st birthday as part of the organization's annual The Longest Day® program (now known as Do What You Love to End ALZ™).

"My mom had a 'million dollar smile,' loved red roses, and I decorated the whole door with roses and pictures of my mom and everything, and I reached out to all my family and friends on Facebook," she says. "I wanted to raise $101, and I raised $2,801. When I do something, I go all out!"

In 2025, Diane was honored as the Alzheimer's Association Southeastern Virginia Chapter's Volunteer of the Year. Diane is featured with Douglas Panto, the chapter's community programs manager.