Donna Donk Cowdrey

Donna Donk Cowdrey passed away on Monday, June 12, 2006, leaving behind many loved family and friends.

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, June 21, 2006, at the United Methodist Church in Sandpoint, Idaho.

She was born in Appleton, Minn., on Jan. 18, 1918, to Henry and Ethel Donk.

Donna went to elementary and high school in Correll, Minn. She attended Minneapolis Business College in Minneapolis. She taught in a country school for one year. After teaching that year, she went on the road with her mother and stepfather and did accounting for the construction firm where her stepfather worked.

She then ventured to California and worked in accounting for an aircraft manufacturer. She lived in Van Nuys, Calif. There she met and married Mark Cowdrey. They continued to live in Van Nuys for a time and then moved to Bend, Ore. Eventually, they moved to Idaho and finally settled in Sandpoint.

Mark and Donna wintered in various locations in Mexico after retirement. They also wintered in Yuma, Ariz. After Mark's death, Donna and her sister, Dorothy, lived in Mesa Verde, mobile home park in Yuma.

She had a great love for adventure and travel, and was always looking for the next place to experience with friends.

Donna was spunky and quick-witted. She loved flowers and gardening and loved to play bridge, cribbage, crossword puzzles, spit and malice, and she golfed until she was 85.

There will be a void in many of our lives. We love and miss you so much.

Dorothy is survived by her sister, Dorothy Schmidt of Rochert, Minn., and many nieces and nephews. Preceding her in death were her husband, Mark Cowdrey; her parents, Henry and Ethel Donk; her stepfather, Al DeWall; her sister, Lucille Lundberg; her stepsister, Marion Schmeichel; and her stepbrother, Gardner DeWall.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Donna's name to the Panhandle Animal Shelter.