Diana Woodruff, 79, former Temple teacher

Diana Woodruff, 79, a former Temple University teacher, died of complications from lymphoma at Ventura Community Memorial Hospital, near her home in Ojai, Calif., on July 19.

Her daughter Martha, an associate professor of philosophy at Middlebury (Vt.) College, said that Mrs. Woodruff was an English instructor at Temple from 1962 to 1964.

Mrs. Woodruff graduated with honors in English literature from Vassar College in 1950, where she was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. She earned her master's degree with honors in English literature from Columbia University in 1952. Mrs. Woodruff studied at the University of Rome in 1952-53 on a Fulbright grant.

She was a research assistant at Yale University for two years and an airline reservations agent in New York City for three years.

In 1964, she and her husband moved to an 18th-century farmhouse in Chester Springs, where she lived until moving to Ojai in 2005.

In Downingtown, Mrs. Woodruff founded the thrift shop at St. James Episcopal Church and managed it from 1976 to 1985.

She belonged to the Humane Society of the United States and alumnae associations at Vassar and the Spence School in New York City.

In addition to her daughter Martha, Mrs. Woodruff is survived by another daughter, Virginia.

A memorial is set for 2 p.m. Saturday at the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia, 1906 S. Rittenhouse Square.