Donna L. Gary

Relatives and friends are invited to gather at Andrew Cemetery in Friend at 10:30 AM on Saturday, May 25th when we will remember her and inter her ashes.

Donna Lynn Gary died in Simi Valley, California on Christmas morning, 2018, after battling pancreatic cancer for 15 months. Though she had lived in California and New Mexico most of her life, she had roots in Nebraska. Her father, Lawrence Gary, was raised in Beaver Crossing and her mother, Betty Shunk (daughter of Phillip Shunk and Fern Shunk, nee Widick), was raised in Friend. Donna was the third of their four daughters, born after Judy Williams and Jean Barowy and before Diane Hedrick. Donna was a graduate of University of California Santa Cruz in English literature, with a subsequent teaching credential from San Jose State University and an MBA from the University of New Mexico. After working as a teacher in California and as an obstetrics research assistant at SUNY Stony Brook, she had a long career as a finance manager with the New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts and the New Mexico Environment Department.

Donna was fortunate to have all three sisters and a niece, Wanda Moyer, living within a few miles of her in California. This fellowship included her mother who died less than a year before Donna. They provided love and support for Donna and each other during her last years. She is survived by all three of her sisters, her husband of 40 years, David Vaniman, her son Steven Vaniman and daughter Heather Conway, and six grandchildren – Ryan, Claire, Abigail and Vivian Conway and Ariah and Ashim Vaniman.

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