Birth8 May 1920, Overton, Nebraska
Death22 Jul 1981, Fremont, Alameda Co., California
Burial24 Jul 1981, Chapel of the Chimes, Hayward, California
After the death of her mother in 1928 she went to live with her Uncle Sheldon and Aunt Norah Parks, she never did return to her father’s household leaving only with the onset of World War 2.
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Aunt Iona was an indomitable spirit to any suffering, always rising above it to serve others or to work with, and cheer others people.
She was herself a veteran, she rode from lookout to lookout on the Santa Ynez Mountains on horseback with mules carrying supplies. regardless of the conditions, she found humor in it all and many times wrote it in poetry. She wrote her first poem while alone on a lookout about "all the Oakies and Swedes, who spread through the forest thicker than weeds".... Sometimes she wrote poetry on toilet paper while sitting on the `John' . One of her letters to my mother was written on toilet paper.
She became an LVN, as I remember her saying through a hospital program, where she worked her way from a nurse aide program and then took a test. One of my memories of her is in her torn white Nursing Uniform. When she arrived home from work, she was exasperated, tired, (as all nurses are when they get home) and told us about how she had grabbed a person trying to jump out the window of the San Francisco General Hospital Psych Ward. The whole sleeve of her uniform was hanging .
One her hobbies was botany, and she grew beautiful African Violets in her miniature greenhouse in San Bruno.
She and Aunt Lee were both wonderful forces in our lives.
Love Margaret Donahue Long