Jo Ann Donnelley Dawe (1929 – 2017)
Jo Ann Dawe, aged 88 years, passed into grace on Tuesday, 28 Nov 2017, under Hospice Care in Camarillo, CA.
Jo Ann Donnelley was born to parents Lloyd Iris “Mike” and Sara Helen Gould Washburn Donnelley on 3 September 1929,
at Saint Anthony’s Hospital in Oklahoma City, OK.
Ann attended Cleveland Elementary School and Taft Junior High School in Oklahoma. She graduated from John Brown
Academy High School in Arkansas as valedictorian of her class. Growing up she loved riding her horse, Babe, playing the
piano, writing poetry, and visiting Aunt Mary Jane Donnelley and Uncle Tracy Tresner’s ranch, and grandma Sarah Jockisch
Washburn’s Sunny Slope Farm.
In the 1940’s her family moved to California. She attended Santa Monica City College where she met her husband to be,
Gale Harrier Dawe, son of Charles Russell Dawe and Gale Loraine Clio Parsons, formerly of Wamego, Kansas. In 1951, Ann
graduated from UCLA where she was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
Gale H. Dawe and Ann were united in marriage at Saint Augustine’s Church in Santa Monica on 16 June 1951, that is after
they found the missing wedding ring which was somehow tangled in her veil! This union was blessed with four daughters,
Sara, Lori, Marcia, and Tricia. They lived in Santa Monica, then moved to Bonita where they resided for over 30 years.
Ann taught elementary school in the La Mesa/Spring Valley School District for 23 years. Her husband, Gale, taught in the
Chula Vista Elementary School District. They both earned their Master’s Degree in Education from SDSU in the 1970’s.
Besides working as a teacher, Ann enjoyed being a member of the Good Shepard Episcopal Church, Bonita Vista High
School Boosters, Welcome Wagon community greeters, Girl Scout leadership, and The Bonita Post co-editors. She also
enjoyed hosting foreign exchange students from Japan, Africa, and Mexico. Ann loved the arts, especially music and
literature; she cultivated that love in each of her daughters through their participation in piano lessons, church choir,
school marching band, school musicals, and visual art projects. In Bonita, Ann cared for her father and mother, who
preceded her in death in 1980 and 1987, respectively. Her only sibling, June Hayde Moncraive passed in Arkansas in 1995.
After retirement, Ann and Gale moved to Santa Maria, CA where she volunteered for the Santa Maria Police Department,
enjoyed RVing all over the United States, and traveling around the world. Gale, her devoted husband, died on 16 April
2000 in Santa Maria, CA. She then moved back to San Diego County, living alternatively with daughters Tricia and Lori. In
her later years, she enjoyed listening to books read aloud by daughters and close friends. She loved watching UCLA
football and basketball, doing arts and crafts, winning at Scrabble, completing puzzles, and especially eating ice cream!
Ann is survived by her four daughters, Sara (Jon) Hunt of Whitefish, MT; Lori Hartigan of Carlsbad, CA; Marcia (George)
Gibson of Santa Ynez, CA; Tricia (John) Stewart of Jamul, CA; and her grandchildren, David (Cait) Hunt of Boulder, CO; Jena
Hunt of CO; Trent and Jadie Stewart of Jamul, CA. She is also mourned by her honorary grandson Clark (Lissette) Hartigan,
and many other extended family members and friends.
Her ashes are to be scattered in the “Blue Pacific” which she loved so much.