Ramona Dana – a Life Tribute

Ramona Ora Dana was a strong woman; people describe her as spunky, persistent, warm and funny. One of her Scottsdale, Arizona friends, who knew her very well, said that Ramona was someone …“who persevered through all obstacles. I enjoyed her humor, her courage, and her love of children”. 

Ramona was born on August 9, 1928 and was raised in Chicago. Ramona was the youngest of four children.

Her brothers and sister were Harold Anderson, Larry Anderson and Darlene Stark (Anderson). They are all deceased. 

Her mother was Alice Baldwin and her father was Emory Anderson. Ramona’s step-father was “Chas” Baldwin.  Her mother was born Alice McKay.

Ramona graduated from Amundson High School and then moved to New York where she attended additional schooling.  It was there she met Warren Dana and they later married.

Warren and Ramona decided to move to Glenview, Illinois, “a place Ramona loved at first sight”.  They had 3 children - Deb, Dawn and Dorene - and subsequently she divorced Warren.  Ramona had to be quite a strong woman to have raised three daughters as a single working mother. 

In 1974, Ramona was adventurous and took a chance. She wanted to find a place to live that had “no winter”. She and two of her daughters took a trip to the west coast to find their new home. They moved to Scottsdale, which Ramona absolutely loved for the rest of her years. One of her proudest accomplishments was buying a townhome, and completely paying for it by the time she moved out of it. 

Ramona developed many friendships while living in Scottsdale. She enjoyed playing tennis with her tennis buddies and she served as the President of the local AARP group. Ramona loved young children immensely and one of her favorite activities was volunteering for intergenerational programs at the local schools.

Ramona took trips with friends and by herself until virtually the end of her life. She frequently visited her daughters in Annandale, VA, Chicago IL, and Apex, North Carolina.  She also enjoyed traveling around Arizona - to Sedona, to Tucson, and to the mountains. She loved going to a cabin in northern Arizona by herself. Ramona also had the wonderful opportunity to go to her grandson Bret’s and wife Amanda’s wedding celebration with all her daughters and their husbands in Bend, Oregon

One of her own favorite memories was when she took 4 of her grandchildren on a cruise from L.A. to Mexico. One of her grandchildren shared some memories: “It was a very generous treat for “Grandmona” to give us the experience of our first cruise. “Grandmona”, my brother, and my cousins enjoyed many belly laughs over delicious cruise cuisine”.  “Grandmona” was a wonderful amalgam of Grandmother and Ramona.   Another grandchild remembers that: “My grandma was an amazing source of kindness and love. It was incredibly touching that she made such great efforts to get the grandkids together with her on a cruise to create special memories”.

Ramona truly loved and cherished all her grandchildren. She had six grandchildren: Bret Hoffman-Dana, Mason Hoffman-Dana, Dylan Volk, Connor Volk, Eric Hoglund, and Kelsey Hoglund

Her first great grandchild is due at the end of this month, September ’19, as Eric and his wife, Jordan, are expecting their first child. 

Dawn and Deb made a couple trips a year to visit their mom over the past five years.  One of their last trips was in the spring of 2019 and from that trip they have a shared, favorite memory of their mom. After convincing their mom to sit out on the veranda of her care home, she sat in the Arizona air she loved, her feet on an ottoman, her face raised to the sky, drinking in the sun – she smiled so very happy, content and peaceful.

Ramona died peacefully in her sleep at 91 years on August 26, 2019.  She will be dearly missed.