The music community is mourning the loss of the singer who for many farmers immortalized John Deere Green, and some Whitehall-area people are mourning the loss of an old friend.
Country music artist Joe Diffie, who at age 61 died Sunday from complications related to coronavirus, spent part of his youth growing up near the Trempealeau County farm community of Pleasantville. Two of his youth friends — including one who stood up in one of Diffie’s weddings — reflected about Diffie’s passing.
“Growing up with him was a ball of fun,” said Steve Lyga, a long-time Cochrane-Fountain-City teacher and coach who attended Whitehall Public Schools with Diffie until Diffie’s family moved to Oklahoma.
Lyga said their friendship spanned the 50 years that they knew each other, and that they always kept in touch right up until Diffie was hospitalized Friday because of the virus. He last sent a text to Lyga on Sunday morning, and worried when Diffie didn’t respond to the note.
Diffie was described by Lyga as a much better football and basketball player than he was a baseball player. Diffie played baseball with the Pleasantville youth team, and Lyga played on the nearby Pigeon Falls team.
“He swung so hard and, if he hit it, it went over the fence; if he missed it he’d just walk back to the bench,” Lyga said. “He wasn’t really the baseball player, but he certainly was a football player and a basketball player. We had a lot of good years together….”
Diffie’s family moved to Oklahoma when they were high school sophomores, and Lyga went there to visit during their senior year of high school.
Their friendship continued into adulthood, and Lyga stood up in Diffie’s first wedding; Lyga and his wife also attended Diffie’s second wedding.
Diffie was supposed to be in Lyga’s wedding party during the late 1980s, but Lyga said Diffie was dealing with some relationship problems at the time so couldn’t participate.
Lyga said he and his wife attended many of Diffie’s shows over the years.
“I told Joe that, if you’re within four hours, I’m coming to see you,” Lyga said.
While he enjoyed the shows’ performances, Lyga said going to them created opportunities to simply visit and catch up on news about their lives.
“It wasn’t the show,” Lyga said. “It was ‘chilling,’ sitting there on the bus and talking about our families and talking where our lives have gone.”
Their last in-person visit was on Feb. 20 at Dubuque, Iowa.
Diffie also made it back to the area over the years to visit with other Whitehall-area classmates. One of them, Nels Gunderson of Osseo.
“Joe was a committed athlete,” Gunderson said. “We didn’t know him as a singer at that time, but he was a hard worker and we’re going to miss his music and his legend of music.”
Diffie’s mother taught in the Whitehall School District, and their family lived up the road from Gunderson in an area called North Branch.
Like many from their childhood, Gunderson followed Diffie’s career and thought highly of his music.
Gunderson, who besides operating an Osseo automotive dealership is chief of the Osseo Rural Fire Department, said Diffie’s death is a reminder about the need to be aware of guidelines meant to slow the spread of coronavirus.
“We’ve said we’re all going to know somebody, and this is a big one,” he said.
— Scott Schultz
Scott Schultz of WAXX 104.5 talked with Gunderson and Lyga about their memories with Diffie:
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