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. There she met the love of her life, and she married Don Edmund on September 20, 1952. Her daughter Linda was born at the McChord Air Force Base hospital, near Tacoma Washington 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 expert in selecting a new house and making it a home for her family. She lived in eight states in 20 years. In 1976 their job brought them to New Mexico, to the White Sands Missile Range. On Labor Day weekend, in 1977 while on a camping trip to the Gila National Forest, they found the ghost town Chloride. Dona said “this is where we need to be”. They bought a derelict house that weekend, and began restoring it on weekends. 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 Veterans graves on 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 Montana, 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 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 into successful fund raisers. 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. Dona requested that in lieu of flowers any donations may be made to the WCC&D Community Association or to the Pioneer Store Museum.
Funeral arrangements are provided by the Kirikos Funeral Home. Burial will be at the Green Wood Cemetery in Chloride.