We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Dona Clay was selected as this year's Senior of the Year, 2024-2025. Her selection was made by members of the Center by secret ballot. Dona is shown here with a gift basket presented as part of her award. Dona and John moved to Chinook, from Georgia, in March, 2022.
Jon and Dona Clay are shown reenacting a scene from their time in high school when they lived at an orphanage in Philadelphia. They left the orphanage after high school, married in the 1950s and lived all over the world following John's military and federal civilian careers.
Dona Clay was selected this week as the Chinook Center's Senior of the Year, 2024-2025. The selection of a special senior citizen each year dates back to the early 1980s when the Senior Center was moved to its current location. Dona's selection was made by members of the Center in a secret ballot completed recently.
Dona, and her husband, John, are relative newcomers to Chinook having moved here in March, 2022 from Woodstock, Georgia, where they were living near an adult daughter. Dona tells, "One day while we were still in Georgia John said, "I don't like it here. There are too many people (Woodstock is a northern suburb of Atlanta), there's too much traffic and it's too humid."" Their son, also named John, and his wife, Kim (who grew up in Chinook) had relocated to Chinook from Spokane and John and Dona decided to move to Montana.
Alert readers may recall a story I wrote earlier about John and Dona who met in an orphanage in Philadelphia where they both lived for a time. In 1954 Dona graduated high school and went to work. The same year John joined the Navy. Soon they married. He finished his obligation to the Navy in 1958 and joined the Air Force where he served until 1975. After his time in the military, he took a civilian job with the federal government and later retired from that career. Because of the nature of John's careers the couple lived, literally, all around the world during their 68 years of marriage. Dona's active in the church she and John attend and has spoken as part of the worship service. The Clays make their home in Chinook at the Grande Villa.
Dona is an active volunteer at the Chinook Senior Center, regularly helping bus the tables after lunch five days a week. She helps with other recreational activities and can be frequently seen on the treadmill at the Center or helping complete a jigsaw puzzle.
Center Director Ginger Hansen wrote a poem for Dona and presented it to her as part of the award ceremony. The poem describes Dona's personality and how she contributes to the Center. The last few lines of the poem are:
"Thank you for being just wonderful you
We are all very thankful for all that you do!
So, without further ado
Congratulations are way overdue!
To our Senior of the Year
Dona Clay, this is you!"
Congratulations, Dona, on your selection as Senior of the Year. And thank you for your service to your community and the Center and its members.
