Dr. Diane Tolbert Campbell

Dr. Diane Campbell was born on Wednesday, September 7, 1960, at Memorial Hospital in Savannah, Georgia — the third child and second daughter of Hurley and Ella Tolbert. When asked about her earliest childhood memories, Diane would always recall, to her mother's surprise, being born in the middle of a storm. And upon fact-checking, she was correct: Hurricane Donna was battering the Atlantic coast the very week Diane was brought home from the hospital. She would recall the rain, the swaying of the trees, and her grandmother Maebell standing in the doorway, waiting for her with open arms. Years later, Diane wrote a book called While Riding Through the Storm, because she came to know in a very intimate way, storm by storm, that God is with us, and His love carries us. Diane grew up in Savannah in a community where, as she put it, "everyone was your mother" — a village that raised her, watched over her, and made sure she was home before the streetlights came on. Some nights she would lie awake in her bed, looking out the window, watching airplanes cross the sky, promising herself that one day the little girl from the projects would see the world. And if you know Auntie Diane — if you know Diane Campbell — you know she kept that promise. Her road wasn't easy, and she never pretended it was. But Diane had a holy stubbornness about her. At thirty years old, a wife and working mother of three, Diane enrolled in college — and nothing could turn her around. Not exhaustion. Not empty pockets. Not even the seasons when she rode a bicycle two miles to campus with her youngest girls balanced on the handlebars. Four and a half years later, she walked across the stage with a bachelor's degree in education, cheered on by her three biggest cheerleaders — her daughters, Julia, Keidra, and Dionnejanae. From that moment on, God opened doors. Days after graduation, the college that had just handed Diane her degree hired her as a financial aid counselor — and she sat in the very office that had nearly turned her away when she first enrolled. Diane made it her mission that no student standing where she once stood would ever walk away from their dream. That was the beginning of a twenty-one-year career in higher education — one that carried her from Savannah to Gainesville, Georgia, where she mentored students of color and earned a master's in education at North Georgia College, and then a Master of Arts in Community Counseling; and later to Cleveland, Ohio, where she made history as the first African-American assistant dean in her university's College of Arts and Sciences. And then came the leap of faith — the story she was known to tell. (If you never heard her tell it in person, check her TikTok.) In 2013, God showed Diane in a dream that the mountain beneath her was crumbling — and that she would have to jump to her next mountain. So she resigned a secure position with nothing in her hand but a promise, telling everyone, "I have a job — I just don't know what it is yet." The job was waiting for her back home in Georgia, in the counseling center of the very church where we celebrate her life today: Free Chapel — the church she faithfully called home and served from 1999, under the leadership of Pastor Jentezen Franklin. The office she was given was the same one where she interned thirteen years earlier. God had prepared a place for her before she ever knew where she was headed. From there, Diane stepped fully into her calling. She became a licensed professional counselor and later earned her doctorate. She served at the Free Chapel Counseling Center from January 2, 2015, until February 7, 2022, then poured herself into her own private practice, Life Talk Counseling, as a therapist—a conduit of God's healing power to more than 157 clients. Over 157 lives touched by her wisdom, her warmth, and her testimony — and those are only the ones we can count. Her city knew her name, too: Life Talk Counseling, in Sugar Hill, Georgia, was voted among the Best of Gwinnett for counseling and therapy—a recognition she earned year after year. She counseled the brokenhearted as one who could truly say: "I've been there — and I am here to tell you that God is faithful." But to know Diane fully, you had to know this: Diane loved family. From childhood to her final days, family was everything to her. She believed in legacy — in keeping it, instilling it, and telling it. She was the keeper of the family record, carrying the histories of her grandmothers and her grandfathers, and she knew what was going on with everybody. If the family story needed telling — names, dates, and all — Diane could tell it, elaborately and beautifully. And of all the stories she told, her favorite — her most treasured — was the one she told every year on Christmas Eve, when she gathered her children and grandchildren and shared the story of the birth of Jesus. She poured into her grandchildren through evening Bible study. And every year she fasted for her family, secluding herself away to give herself to private time with the Lord — in prayer, in fasting, in scripture reading, and in journaling — so that she could arise better and stronger for her family, her legacy, and the work God called her to do. To know Diane is to know this is true: she loved the Lord, and she loved her family. And she did it all with style. Diane carried herself with class, poise, and a standard of excellence—she didn't just set the standard; she was the standard. She loved fashion, and she loved shopping; TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and Nordstrom knew her by name, or at the very least by face. And a cruise ship was not leaving port unless Diane was on it. She found a love for cruising and a good time, sailing multiple times a year — in fact, her next cruise was already booked. The little girl who once watched airplanes from her bedroom window truly did see the world. On August 23, 2026, the One who commands even the winds and the water called His faithful servant home. The storm is over now. Diane rode through every one of them, from mountaintop to mountaintop — and this time, she leaped all the way to glory. Diane was preceded in death by her mother, Ella Mae Washington; her father, Hurley Tolbert; her sisters, Ella Mae Harrison and Elizabeth Ann Cope; her daughter, Julia Simone White; and her husband, Julius Campbell. She leaves to cherish her memory her daughters, Keidra A. Chancellor and Dionnejanae Campbell-Williams (Stacey); her grandchildren, Teleah Elliott-Johnson (Ross), Julian Campbell, Calin White, Cameron White, Zylon Ensley, Cairo Campbell, ZaKai Shunk, Taylor Chancellor, Tyler Chancellor, Camille Chancellor, Chloe Chancellor, and Caleb Chancellor; her great-grandchildren, Armiyah Elliott-Johnson and Jalayah Brown; her brother, Hurley Tolbert, Jr.; her sister, Carolyn Jeffery; and a host of nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews who adored her — too many to name, and every one of them loved.

Dr. Diane Tolbert Campbell

September 7, 1960 - August 23, 2026