Donna Booth

Donna Booth passed away surrounded by her family at the Southwood Hospice on Tuesday Nov 8 at the age of 77 years. She fought a courageous battle, with hope, until her passing. Donna is survived by her children Grant Booth (Linda), Cindy Collens (Marc), and Danna Harper. She will be lovingly remembered and missed by her grandchildren Damon Booth, Jamie Gerus (Calvin), Danial Collens, Chad Collens, Kodi Harper and Randi Harper, as well as a special niece, Roxanna Sanderlin (Peter). Donna was predeceased by her husband and best friend Ivan in 1994.

Prior to moving to Calgary in 1969, Donna was well known in the Edmonton Klondike Days. She won so many contests for her costume designs that they finally asked her to become a judge! After moving to Calgary she was asked by the Calgary Stampede to design for Flare Square Productions. Her talent finally led her to start her own business – Masque Costumes & Dancewear - which was so successful that husband Ivan left a rewarding career in heavy equipment to become her full time business partner. The first store was located downtown in the Oddfellows building on Centre Street (now the Chamber of Commerce). That first Halloween in 1974 was so busy that police were needed for crowd and traffic control!!

Donna will be remembered as a creative designer as well as an astute business woman. She and her husband Ivan enjoyed 20 years of serving the dance and theatrical community together in Calgary before Ivan’s sudden passing. The Masque was always her passion and Donna continued on without her partner for 15 more years. Marian Cade became more than an employee and has been a true friend that shared many laughs and adventures with Donna, including a certain pyjama party in a lounge in Quebec.

Donna was well respected in both the dance and the costume industries, and she was an icon in both. She was known to speak her mind, expect results, and she put fear in many hearts. But she was always fair in her expectations and was generally right! Her store became well known to dancers, and she has often seen three generations of dancers come to her through the years. Generations of dance moms relied on her because of her knowledge and expertise.

She shared her creative talents and knowledge with customers and manufacturers alike. She was so appreciated by seamstresses, theatre companies, Halloween partiers, Stampede Queens, barrel racers, wrestlers, professional clowns, Santas and drag queens! Her sense of humour and unique outlook will be missed.

Donna and Ivan’s love of travel took them to the Orient, the Caribbean, Mexico, and the States. Their very first travel experience was to Disneyland, where in their excitement they parked their white rental car and raced to the admission gates. Hours later they returned to a sea of white cars and discovered to their horror neither of them knew where they parked! Undeterred, they solved the problem by going back and staying until they closed down the park and their’s was the only car left! They made many trips to Las Vegas, and enjoyed travelling to Spokane for RCMP events with friends.

In more recent years, Mom enjoyed taking the family on trips. We enjoyed trips to Disneyland, Disneyworld, Hawaii, Mexico, and more than one trip to the US Virgin Islands. We enjoyed cruises, and she loved duty free shopping!!!! All the grandchildren will have fond memories of how much fun she was when she was on a holiday. She was young at heart and always up for a good time. But as much fun as the vacations were, we were never happier or more of a family than when we were at Mom and Dad’s family cabin at Hastings Lake. Mom and Dad bought the cabin in the 1960s and enjoyed summers with family and friends. Mom’s cooking was always fantastic, and seemed even more so at the cabin. Mom was a pastry chef at the time, and her children took it for granted that she merely cooked professionally to perfect her skills for at home!

Heartfelt thanks go out to the wonderful caregivers at Southwood Hospice. Their care helped to make Mom’s last months more comfortable, and their genuine compassion is very much appreciated.