Dona M Edmund

Obituary For Dona M Edmund

Dona (Wise) Edmund passed away on March 2, 2022 at her home in Chloride. Dona was born to Norman and Hazel Wise on September 10, 1933. She grew up in a small town, Boston, Ohio, and after graduating from High School in 1951, she worked as a Time Clerk in a local paper mill. It was there she met the love of her life, Don Edmund and they married on September 20, 1952. Their daughter Linda was born at the McChord Air Force Base Hospital, near Tacoma, WA in 1954. After their Air Force stint, Dona supported her family as a grocery store clerk while Don finished school on the GI Bill. When Don joined IBM Corporation in 1956, his work meant moving many times, often from coast to coast. Dona became an expert in selecting a new house and making it a home for her family in eight states in 20 years. In 1976, their job brought them to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. On Labor Day weekend, in 1977, while on a camping trip to the Gila National Forest, they found Chloride. Dona said, “this is where we need to be.” So that weekend they bought a derelict house and began restoring it on weekends thereafter. In 1986, when Don retired from IBM, they moved to Chloride full time.

All her life, Dona was interested in the things around her. She was immensely proud of her father, who had been wounded in WW1. She remembered as a little girl, she would accompany him to put flags on the Veteran’s graves in Independence Day. She was proud that she had a paper route and rode her bicycle several miles a day in rural Ohio delivering papers to neighbors. After Linda was born, Dona devoted her time to community activities. She served as Girl Scout Leader in most of the states she lived in. Shortly after she moved to Great Falls, MT, she called the Girl Scout Council to volunteer as a Scout Leader. They told her they did not need a leader, but that the annual Girl Scout cookie drive was just starting, and they asked her if she would coordinate the sales in the “North Half.” Imagine her surprise when a semi-truck and trailer backed into the driveway and began offloading cases of cookies. They filled a spare bedroom and both sides of a two-car garage! They had not told her the North Half was the North Half of Montana. She accepted the challenge, but she had another surprise coming. She did not realize that Montana was still a SILVER DOLLAR state, and the cookies were one dollar a box. When the dollars began rolling in, she asked the Girl Scout Council personnel for help carrying all the money to the bank.

After moving to Chloride, Dona worked with many other community members to start the WCC&D Community Association. She enjoyed working with others to make the enchilada dinners and other activities successful fundraisers. She led a full and interesting life and enjoyed meeting and talking to visitors at the Pioneer Store Museum in Chloride.

Dona was preceded in death by her parents, two sisters and a brother. She is survived by her husband Don of the home, Daughter, Linda Turner, of Chloride; two brothers and several nieces and nephews.

A Graveside Service will be held on Thursday, March 10, 2022 at 2:00 P.M. at the Greenwood Cemetery in Chloride.

Dona requested that in lieu of flowers, any donations may ne made to the WCC&D Community Association or to the Pioneer Store Museum.