Donna Lea Gardner, 60, a former Baker City resident, died Dec. 16, 2006, at the Kadlec Medical Center in Richland, Wash.
Recitation of the rosary will be at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Burns Mortuary Chapel in Hermiston. Her funeral will be at 11 a.m. Friday at the Burns Mortuary Chapel. Private burial will be at the Desert Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Irrigon.
Donna was born at Baker City on Jan. 6, 1946, to Robert and Violet Howell. For the past few years she had lived at Irrigon. She had lived at Baker City for many years and also spent 15 years in the John Day area.
She worked for the State of Oregon for 32 years as a case manager. She was a champion to the elderly people she worked with. She loved to travel, loved her kids and grandkids and was devoted to her family and friends.
She enjoyed fly-fishing, reading, museums and the outdoors and she loved wolves.
She was a member of the Catholic Church. She married her husband, J.C. Gardner, on May 11, 2001, at Hermiston.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Robert and Violet Howell; and two brothers, Leland and Randy.
Survivors include her husband, J.C. Gardner of Irrigon; a son, David Pierce of Irrigon; a daughter, Michelle Osborne of Irrigon; sisters, Faith Sonnemon of Colby, Wis., and Darlene Farley of Boise, Idaho; grandchildren, Dustin, Jessika, Gavin, Bradley, Rylee, Harley and Seth; and nieces, nephews and cousins.
Memorial contributions may be made to the American Diabetes Association through Burns Mortuary of Hermiston.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, December 19, 2006
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor