...wife, mother, friend; 61
TEWKSBURY - Donna J. (Donato) Power, age 61, died Thursday morning at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, after a courageous six-year battle with leukemia. Donna was born in Schenectady, New York, on June 25, 1950, the daughter of the late Bernard and Rose (Visco) Donato, and was raised in Schenectady. She earned her B.A. at Siena College in Loudonville, New York, and soon after married Donald C. Power, with whom she would have celebrated a 40th wedding anniversary this year. In the early years of their marriage, she and her husband lived variously in Connecticut, Arizona, and Missouri, where Donna earned her M.A. at the University of Missouri in St. Louis and had two children. She and her family settled in Tewksbury in 1984. In addition to raising her children, Donna worked as a grant writer before founding Andover Accents, a wedding favors company. She was an active member of the American Association of University Women for many years.
Besides her husband, she is survived by two daughters and a son-in-law, Dorothy Ogrodowczyk and her husband Joseph of Andover, and Caroline Power of Rowley; a sister, Marilyn Paradise and her husband Peter of Lansing, New York; and many nieces, nephews, and relatives in the Schenectady area.
Memorial visitation will be held Saturday, January 7, from 4 to 5 p.m. in the funeral home. A Memorial Celebration Service will be held Saturday evening at 5:00 p.m. in the funeral home. Additionally, relatives and friends will be received Saturday, January 14, from 1:30 to 2:30 in the DeMarco-Stone Funeral Home, 1605 Helderberg Ave., Rotterdam, NY 12306, followed by a Memorial Celebration at 2:30 in the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be sent to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Massachusetts, 9 Erie Dr. Suite 101, Natick, MA 01760.