Politics, dancing and (not) love at first sight. Fresno’s First Lady opens up in rare interview

EDITOR’S NOTE: The 21st year of the millennium was expected to be a time of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of normal, 2021 gave us more of the same as 2020 with vaccinations, face mask requirements and more COVID-19 deaths. There were people who stood out during the year because of their work, accomplishments or their impact. Vida en el Valle selected the 10 most interesting people of 2021. Here is No. 1:

Few people went from almost no public visibility to being in the public spotlight in 2021 than Diane Dyer, mother of two and grandmother of five (ages 9 to 2).

She’s also the first lady of Fresno because of her husband, Mayor Jerry Dyer.

However, she’s perfectly fine being known as a mother, accountant for her family farm and the mayor’s wife than as a public figure.

“I just think of myself as Jerry’s wife and a mom,” said Diane Dyer during a recent interview. “I’ve always been there to support Jerry. No matter what he’s done (in politics), I told him if that’s what he feels it’s fine with me. I think God put this in his heart.”

Diane was alongside her husband when the former police chief announced his race for mayor. She was also with him when the mayor announced the One Fresno Foundation to help fund initiatives to improve the city.

Other than that, she appears at public events whenever her husband suggests she be with him.

“I don’t feel like people really know who I am because I am just busy with my life, with my grandkids and my children, you know, my family,” said the 62-year-old Diane.

She is one of three children born to Robert and Rosalie Gonzales. Her father was a mailman before he decided to go into farming despite people telling him the post office was a better career.

Diane attended Fresno City College and Fresno State, but didn’t earn her degrees. She worked at a bank and a seed company but quit to raise the family.

Q. How did you meet Jerry? And, was it love at first sight?

A. “Jerry would say that, but no. But we did start dating our freshman year (at Fowler High School). We were just in the same classes, we had all the same friends. Uh, it just kind of happened.”

Q. Did you help out at your parents’ farm?

A. “We used to do everything on the ranch until I got to probably my sophomore or junior year. Then we no longer worked on it. By then, he had a lot of employees. We used to pick grapes and roll them. So yeah, I was raised on the farm.”

Q. How do you select which public events you attend?

A. “Jerry will let me know what he thinks. He doesn’t like to push any of that stuff on me because I always have appointments or things that I’m doing. He’ll say, ‘I have this going on’ and I’ll say, ‘OK, I can make that.’”

Q. Is Jerry busier than when he was police chief?

A. “It’s hard to believe, but he is busier. I see him in the morning, and then I’ll see him at night, about 9 o’clock.

“He always worked late as chief too. I mean, it’s always been our whole life. It’s always been crazy hours.”

Q. Are you looking forward to where Jerry will retire from public life and you have him all to yourself?

A. “This was supposed to be that time. And it didn’t happen.” (She was referring to his retirement as police chief).

“We were planning on traveling. We put everything off because of his police work. Now as mayor, it’s getting put off again. We try to get away when we can to the coast at least once a month. You can’t work every weekend. We just set a time and say, ‘OK, this weekend.’”

Q. Any special places you’d like to travel to?

A. “Jerry and I both love sprint car racing. We really want to start driving the circuit and following the Outlaws, which is fast dirt. Those are a lot of fun because we’ve gone back to Knoxville for the nationals and it’s just exciting.

“Jerry was raised with that, and when I was little, my dad would take me to Kearney Bowl. Jerry’s uncle used to race, so we’ve just kind of been raised around it.”

Q. What do you do with your time?

A. “I’m always there for my kids. I still do the part-time bookkeeping with the ranches, but we’re selling them all because both our parents are gone and my brother’s at the age where he wants to retire too. So he’s leasing out his ranches and we’ve been selling all my parents’ ranches and stuff.”

Q. Do you enjoy music, dancing or reading?

A. “I love all of those.”

Q. Is Jerry a good dancer?

A. “He thinks he is. He can keep a beat. He loves to dance, especially at family gatherings because then there’s no one to judge and you can be yourself when you’re around family.”

Q. What types of books do you like to read?

A. “Not history. Nothing political. I read biblical books.”

Q. Are you political?

A. “No. I just have my beliefs. I’m more on the line of biblical, what’s right, what’s wrong, loving people where they’re at. That’s a lot of Jerry too. He loves people, otherwise he wouldn’t be doing this if he didn’t love people. And it has nothing to do with whether you’re a Republican or Democrat. He just loves people. And I think that’s why he does so well with the homeless is because he loves. He loves the homeless. You know, you don’t have to approve of what they do, but you could still love them.”

Q. How about your Latino identity?

A. “I love the Mexican side of me. I love Mexican music; I love salsa. But, I am very Americanized. I didn’t learn Spanish, and that was because of my parents. Even though they were fluent in Spanish, they wouldn’t teach it to us because when they were in school, they got hit if they spoke Spanish. And so they didn’t want that to happen to us.

“The only one that really can get by with it is my older brother; and, that’s because he worked with a lot of the workers who spoke Spanish.”

Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 1 de enero de 2022, 8:21 a. m..