Sunday, July 23, 2017
Remembering Donna
Donna always greeted me with a smile and a twinkle in her eyes, and always asked how the family was doing.
Donna was the best friend to my mother, Ruth, for over 45 years. The relationship started when the Goneau’s moved from Sutton to Sharon. She would come over for afternoon tea to laugh with Mom about the soap “Another World” and other things that, as kids, we didn’t know about.
Over the years, no matter where Donna and Frank lived, they would frequently meet up for dinner and a game of cards with my parents. They also got together for weekend trips to Donna’s parents’ cottage in Baysville to go sledding, and would always come back with stories.
Over the past 20 years, Donna would meet my Mom every Friday to go shopping and have lunch. My last visit with Donna was an unexpected lunch at the Sunset Grill. This was the girls’ favourite place to have lunch after shopping. I just finished driving my friend Edie to a doctor’s appointment in Newmarket and we decided to stop at the Sunset Grill for lunch. Sure enough, Mom and Donna were there and waved us back to join them. I sat beside Donna; she greeted me with the warmly. She leaned over and said, “I know that lady”, referring to Edie. I introduced them and they both soon realized they were old neighbours. We spent the rest of our lunch catching up.
I feel the sudden loss for Frank, their children, Leanne, Denise, Penny, and Mark, her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren, her sisters, Gloria and Marla, her best friends, my parents, Fred and Ruth, and everyone she ever greeted with her warm smile and twinkling eyes.
