Donna Gage Obituary

Former Durango resident Donna D. Gage died of pneumonia at the Heart Hospital of New Mexico in Albuquerque on Saturday, Aug. 22, 2009. She was 75.

Mrs. Gage was born to Albert and Viola Wilder in Topeka, Kan., on June 8, 1934. Shortly after she was born, her family settled in Albuquerque, where she attended high school.

On Jan. 18, 1951, she married Kenneth Gage in Albuquerque.

For the first six years of their marriage, they lived in Albuquerque, where they had two children. Mrs. Gage began her love of painting in watercolors at that time, taking lessons with professionals.

In 1957, the Gage family moved to Gallup, N.M., where Mrs. Gage learned to golf, which became a lifelong passion and pastime, along with league bowling and giving lessons in both sports.

While living in Gallup, Mrs. Gage went back to school and earned her graduate equivalency diploma. When she finished her schooling, she became a physical education teacher for girls at Cathedral High School for three years.

The family moved once again, this time to Durango, where the family opened and ran a Circle K on Florida Road, where Curves now is located. While in Durango, she joined Hillcrest Golf Club and was a member for many years. She also began to paint in earnest and started to sell her work.

After 25 years of marriage, the Gages divorced. Mrs. Gage met a woman who would be her lifelong friend, Adrienne Schaffer. The two of them traveled for 10 years around the West Coast, buying and selling homes. Mrs. Gage sold her paintings and continued with her love of golf.

Mrs. Gage returned to Durango in 1990, where she helped her children with the Donut Stop Bakery for two years. She finally settled in Grants, N.M., where she spent the last 14 years, making many friends and pursuing her art.

Mrs. Gage was preceded in death by her son, Randall Gage.

She is survived by her daughter, Richelle McCoy, of Durango; brother, Edward Wilder, of Albuquerque; sister Diana Schallenberger of Tucson, Ariz.; six grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.