Diana Hardy, a cofounder and longtime volunteer at the Soup Kitchen in Provincetown, died peacefully on March 30, 2024 at Seashore Point in Provincetown. She was 88.

The daughter of Richard and Pearl Settle, Diana was born on July 7, 1935 in Syracuse, N.Y., where she grew up. She graduated from Syracuse High School in 1953 and married James P. Hardy in 1960.

The couple moved to Provincetown in 1969 when James joined the Act IV Theater as a designer for its final season at Weathering Heights on Shank Painter Road.

Diana fell in love with Provincetown and its community. She worked at Ciro and Sal’s for more than 30 years and was a hostess at the Lobster Pot as well.

She was also a tireless volunteer: a longtime supporter and volunteer at the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod and one of the cofounders of the Soup Kitchen in Provincetown (SKIP) when it moved to St. Mary of the Harbor Episcopal Church in the 1990s, according to SKIP’s website.

In a post on SKIP’s Facebook page, Diana was remembered as a “little woman with a big personality,” who, when SKIP moved from the Unitarian Universalist Meeting House to St. Mary’s, “rolled up her sleeves — literally — and began a commitment to SKIP that lasted some 30 years.” Everyone involved with SKIP, from board members to guests, “have fond memories of her easy laugh and eagerness to make lunch an enjoyable experience.”

“Everyone loved Diana,” Mark Bjorstrom wrote in a remembrance. She was “a beautiful soul with a wonderful sense of humor,” he added. Anthony Fuccillo commented that “she was terrific” in her many years of volunteering at the Provincetown Tourism Office.

Diana is survived by her son, Kevin W. Hardy, and wife Julizabeth S. Hardy; the Blooms of Seattle; and the Waltons of Syracuse.

Her family plans to spread Diana’s ashes on the Provincetown flats this summer. A celebration of her life is also being planned.