Diny's Out of Kitchen in Delhi

Diny (Diana) Wilson is riding off into the sunset in her 2008 Chevrolet Corvette with husband, Lee. She's no longer toiling in the kitchen at Diny's Steak House & Lounge. Her last day was Saturday (May 29, 2010) after 35 years in the food service business. First it was Diny's Cafe and, for the last 33 years, the steak house.

Diny, who will be 58 in August, thought it was time to retire from 80-plus hour weeks operating the steak house. As Lee said, customers see them at the business during hours it's open -- 5 p.m. until close, which is usually around 10 p.m. But there's a lot of prep work people don't realize must  happen for everything to run smoothly. Often, Diny was in the kitchen by 7 a.m. (See today Ramblin' column in The Gazette.)

"I'm not leaving Delhi," Diny says. "I'll walk downtown every morning to get my mail. that way I'll still see everybody."

The restaurant has been sold to Kenneth and Traci Schaffer of Cedar Rapids. He was the former chef at Daniel Arthur's so he knows what it's all about. And the name will change to Delhi Steak House and Lounge, a rather simple change that doesn't upset Diny in the least since she won't be working there.

"That's fine with me," Diny says. "They've got to make their own niche in life."

While Diny might get a part-time job -- Lee jokes that even if she worked 40 hours a week it would seem like part-time work -- she's also looking forward to traveling.

While many retired couples go the RV route, Diny and Lee have always had a Corvette. Their current 2008 model -- a black convertible with a red interior -- has less than 10,000 miles on it now. But it should soon be racking up the miles as they journey to the Grand Canyon for the first time and maybe, if Diny has her way, all the way up to Alaska for a nice cool summer vacation.

They'll also travel to Lincoln, Nebraska quite often where youngest daughter, Stephi, lives, to visit three grandchildren. They've also got two children, Shawn in Delhi and Shelli, in Manchster, and three other grandchildren in the area.

Sure, Diny will miss the people (and maybe, just a little, the hard work and creativity of coming up with a new dish) but it was just time to retire.

"It's been very, very good to me," Diny says. "And I loved it dearly."