Donna Gallanis

Donna K. Gallanis, age 93 was born in Reedsburg, Wisconsin on May 5, 1930, to John and Irma “Candace” (Hawkins) Kluender and passed peacefully on February 5, 2024, in Westerville, Ohio. After completing her degree in education at The Ohio State University, she worked for Columbus Public Schools where she taught at Mohawk Middle and Beechcroft High Schools where she taught business education classes. She retired in 1994. Donna was an avid gardener, enjoying roses and most flowering plants. She was an enthusiastic Bridge player, a Buckeye sports fan, enjoyed baking bread and cookies, loved to travel around the USA, watching Jeopardy and spending time with her family and granddaughters. Although she had many interests, family was always her priority.

Her parents settled in the Toledo area where her father worked in the auto factories, including the Willies Plant where Jeeps were made for the war effort. Like most of her generation, Donna spent her formative years influenced by the scarcities of the Great Depression and the insecurities of World War II. She was frugal in her purchases and always balanced their check book to the penny. She held a pragmatic approach to life.

She met her future husband at a weekly YMCA dance. They were married in April 1959 and remained together for 62 years until his passing in 2021. They moved to Columbus, Ohio in 1964. He worked for the city’s planning department while she raised the children and worked part-time. They were long time members of Maize Manor Methodist Church. Over her life Donna held various jobs including a candy striper, a secretary at Toledo Hospital and a salesclerk at Sears in the former Northland Mall, before completing her degree in education and dedicating her career to teaching. She started as a substitute teacher before accepting full time positions at the middle and then high school level.

Mom’s 15 minutes of fame (actually, it was about 4 seconds) was in the movie Teachers (1984) that was filmed in part at the former Central High School (now a part of the COSI facility). She was one of hundreds of extras from the public school system to participate in the movie. She appears in a scene in the teacher’s lounge with actor Nick Nolte. He arrives a bit inebriated. In the process of trying to get a cup of coffee he spills some of it when she gives him her decerning glare. Mom had a charming smile, but it was her stern expression, the look you got when you were in big trouble, that kept her scene from being left on the cutting floor.

The following is a remembrance from each of her children.

Mom liked to plant flowers and participated in the local garden club. She enjoyed the music of her generation and even got to attend a Nat King Cole concert in Chicago. She often played the piano and read books in her spare time. She passed her love of plants and flowers, music, and reading on to me. I will always cherish our mother-daughter talks. She helped me get my first job and my last job. Mom loved her children, and we were blessed to have such a caring mother.

Mom seemed to blend being a homemaker and working outside the home seamlessly when I was growing up. She would wake up around 5:00 am and have our breakfasts ready and lunches packed for school while having dinner ready by 6:00 pm when dad would come home from work. As a toddler, when a thunderstorm rolled through the night, I’d find mom and we would watch the lighting and thunder show as it passed through town. She was always there to support me in my accomplishments and failures. She was the family’s proverbial lighthouse, making sure we held true to our course in life, and she was a major influence on who I am as a person. There was never any doubt about how much she loved her family, as she showed it every day through her words and deeds.

Some of my fondest memories are the times mom and I would just sit around and talk. We would cover a wide range of topics from the weather to discussing world events. No matter if it was over a cup of tea or over the phone, conversation was always a delight to have with her. She spent endless hours cheering on my endeavors on the baseball, soccer, and football fields, yet always insisted that my education had to come first. Her loving guidance and dry, quick wit will be dearly missed.

Donna is survived by her daughter Elizabeth “Liz” (Bruce) Deitrick, sons David (Sally) and Jason; and granddaughters Jessica, Katelyn, Michelle (Deitrick) and Emily; and siblings Jack Kluender and Velna Sampsel, and nieces and nephews Ken (Lori) Sampsel, Mike Sampsel, Dan Sampsel, Carl Kluender, Sue Andrews, Candy (Cyril Sr.) Kudlica; and numerous grandnephew and grandnieces.

Donna is preceded in death by her husband, Mariene Steven; and daughter Patricia Jean; her parents; and grandparents Louis and Velna Hawkins; and Father-in-law Theodore Gallanis, Mother-in-law Hazel Carney; and Stepfather James Carney; and Stepmother Winifred; and Brother-in-laws Ross Sampsel and Tom Gallanis; and Sister-in-laws Lois Gallanis and Della Kluender; and nieces Debbie Estep, Carol Keagle; and nephew John Kluender; and grandnephew Cyril Kudlica.

Donna would enjoy having her family and friends attend a celebration of her life at Schoedinger Funeral Home, 6699 North High Street, Worthington, Ohio 43085 on Saturday May 4, 2024, from 1:00 to 3:00 pm followed by a grave side service at Kingwood Memorial Park, 8230 Columbus Pike, Lewis Center, Ohio 43035 at 4:00 pm.