Diane Troyer passed peacefully in her sleep on July 27, 2026, at the age of 83, in the home where she grew up, surrounded by the land, family, and memories that had been part of her life from the beginning.

Diane was born on September 12, 1942, to Ralph and Miriam (Williams) Troyer. She was raised on the family farm near Sharon Center, Iowa, nestled among the Amish community halfway between Iowa City and Kalona. As a child, she loved playing and caring for the family pets and farm animals, and she would frequently be curled up with a book. She often visited her grandfather’s farm, three miles away in the neighboring Welsh community. Her mother was 100% Welsh and Diane treasured this heritage. At the Williams’ farm, she spent time at Old Man’s Creek swimming, picnicking, and adventuring. The eldest of three sisters, Diane was precocious, imaginative, curious, strong-willed, and endlessly creative. From an early age, she was less interested in accepting the world as it was than in understanding how it worked and imagining what it might become.

She attended Boone School, a one-room country school, just down the road and up the hill, through 8th grade. She was an active 4-H member, completing demonstrations and projects and proudly showing Chester White pigs at the county fair, continuing a family tradition of raising the breed. She fondly recalled her prize-winning pig as a special childhood accomplishment. She went to Iowa City High School, where she found an outlet to express her creativity in the drama department. She appeared in theatrical productions, competed in debate and forensics, and played violin in the City High Orchestra. At 17, seeing the need for soil and water preservation, Diane wrote and presented her speech at the State Conservation speech contest, which she won. She delivered this speech at many events all over Iowa. She graduated from high school in 1960.

She attended Iowa State University, where she studied television and writing and remained active in theater. In the summer of 1961, Diane met Larry Peterson, and she moved back to Iowa City. They were married in the fall. Laurie was born the following year and Nicole in 1963. Diane transferred to the University of Iowa, where her interests expanded into film, playwriting, multimedia, and experimental art. She participated in the Writers' Workshop as an undergraduate. She immersed herself in the avant-garde community that flourished in Iowa City during the ‘60s. The decade also brought Diane and her daughters’ profound loss. Larry was killed in a helicopter accident while deployed in the Navy during the Vietnam War on Friday, June 13, 1969. In response, Diane produced a feature film, “Nine O’clock in the Afternoon”, as an expression of grief and protest. Decades later, when asked about her film, she recalled that creating “art” was the only way she knew to respond.

In the 1970s, Diane produced films, videos, commercials, and documentaries, worked in television and multimedia, and became involved in Iowa City's vibrant entertainment scene. In 1977, she designed and facilitated the creation of a disco club in a vacant gas/utility building built in 1857 at 505 E. Burlington Street for the owner of Granddaddy’s. From 1980-1982, Diane took over the lease and opened Rosebud, envisioning it not simply as a nightclub but as a place where live performance, television production, music, and new forms of visual entertainment could meet. Rosebud is remembered for hosting legendary acts such as Leon Russell, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, and Del Shannon and for celebrating the Hawkeyes heading to the 1982 Rose Bowl. The coaches, players, and fans packed Rosebud past capacity with people chanting “Rosebud Now…Rose Bowl Later”.

Through exploring endless publications, Diane learned of laser projectors being used in the SAC war rooms (40 feet underground) at Offutt Air Force Base near Omaha. She became intrigued; she dreamed of the possibilities, imagined immersive environments, and the infinite uses in Hollywood. The lasers in the projectors required excess energy to cool, so they chose to eliminate their use. The Air Force contacted Diane to inform her that the projectors would be sold at auction. Diane and her mother drove to the military base in a blizzard; they were the only ones who showed up, and they purchased the projectors. Diane's new “Project” carried her to California in 1983. There she founded Metatron Vision and devoted herself to laser projection technology. What began decades earlier with film and storytelling evolved into a lifelong search for new ways to put images into physical space.

In the 1990s, after extensive research, reengineering, and working with laser laboratories locating new and improved lasers, Diane collaborated with a laser physicist to design, develop, and build new laser projection technologies. They pursued ideas that were strikingly ahead of their time: curved screens, dimensional imagery, and spaces in which projected images could become part of the architecture itself. Diane wrote her first patents, which included technology for lasers, infinite focus, and reflective light valves for projection. Her later work envisioned projection not simply to display an image, but to transform an entire environment.

Commercial success proved more elusive than Diane hoped. But she was never particularly motivated by conventional measures of success. What mattered to her was the possibility that something could be done differently. She could spend years pursuing an idea because she believed there was a better answer somewhere ahead. She remained this way throughout her life. Even in her final years, Diane continued to learn, experiment, question, and imagine.

Friends and family fondly recall having their palms read, receiving horoscope predictions, or having her ask your birthday to determine what “card” you were and then reveal what it means. They will remember her preparing an Indian dinner, serving a wide variety of delicious curries, and her devotion to her many cats she adored over the years. Diane passionately shared her expansive visions for future ideas that blended science, invention, and imagination in ways few could fully grasp. Diane enjoyed entertaining at countless memorable parties, where you would find people from all walks of life at 909 E. Burlington in Iowa City and at her homes in Los Angeles.

For many years on balmy summer nights in Iowa, memories were made at gatherings on the Troyer farm. As the night grew dark, the crickets chirped, and the fireflies danced through the cornfields. Diane always looked forward to teaching the newcomers the rules of Barbaree, a beloved game of hide-and-seek after dark. Players of all ages divided into two teams and hid together within a quarter- mile boundary, while the opposing team searched for them. The team that remained hidden the longest was the winner.

Diane was affectionately called “Lady Di” by her granddaughters, family, and close friends. She cherished the time she spent with her granddaughters, nieces and nephews, and great-nieces and nephews; she sparked their creativity, spirituality, and appreciation of nature as much as they inspired her with their curious imaginations.

Diane could be eccentric, intense, stubborn, strong-willed, funny, generous, spiritual, imaginative, and wonderfully unconventional. She was an independent thinker who saw possibilities where others often saw limitations and had unwavering enthusiasm for new ideas that she would follow wherever they led, often far beyond the boundaries of what seemed practical or conventional. She never seemed to lose the curiosity of the girl who had grown up exploring the family farms in rural Iowa.

Her nephew called her “a true original”. It is difficult to imagine a more fitting description.

Diane is lovingly remembered by her daughters, Laurie Peterson Magaraci and Nicole Peterson Sheldon; her granddaughters, Jessica (Alex) Smith, Sarah (Collin) Sheldon, Havana (Colton) Sheldon, and Maya Magaraci; her great-grandchildren, Archie and Holly Smith; her sisters, Judy Troyer and Nancy (Scott) Ritter; her brother-in-law, Glenn (Corrinne) Peterson; and her many nieces and nephews and great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by Larry Peterson and her parents, Ralph and Miriam Troyer.

Diane entered hospice care in October 2025 and was cared for at home by her family, with the support of Iowa City Hospice. Her family will always treasure this unforeseen time of being together. She held deep appreciation for the hospice staff, and her family will remain grateful for the expertise, compassion, and kindness they provided throughout her final journey.

A documentary of her lifelong projects: films, videos, writings, and patents is in the works.

A Celebration of Diane's Life will be held in the summer of 2027.

She spent her life asking what might be possible.

She never stopped looking for the answer.