|
Today's Featured Biography
Donna Derway McCane
As you can see the most important things in my life are my family, my friends, my home, my dog and cruising.
I was married to Joel Holden in 1977 and had two wonderful children. I was a stay-at-home mom until 1985 when we got divorced. Then I decided to return to school and get my degree in accounting. So, I worked a part-time job, went to college full-time and was raising two children. It was hard, but it was one of the best things I ever did. After college I went to work for Jenkins, Law, (Jeff) Beecher and Bethel, I worked there for 1 1/2 years. In 1988, I married Luke McCane. Then I went to work for Lake George Central School, I did payroll and managed their millions for 17 years. I loved my job. When I was in college, I promised my children that I would buy them a house with a pool and in 1993, we purchased our home on Woodside Ave. It was our dream house. In 1994, Luke and I took our first cruise, and we were hooked. We have gone on cruises for my sister's honeymoon, Luke's sister's anniversary, my son wedding, several group cruises, we will use any excuse to go. To date we have been on 27 cruises. I do have to say that I find great deals on the internet, and we usually go during hurricane season. In 2000, my daughter got married to a wonderful man, our first grandchild was born; Kiersten, we lost my dad to cancer, two months later we found out that my younger sister Lisa was in stage 4 colon cancer. She had two young children, a wonderful husband, a beautiful home and everything to live for. She fought hard for 2 1/2 years, but in 2003 she passed away. Lisa was only 3 years younger than me, and I don't think I will ever get over losing her. During the time Lisa was sick, my son got married, our second grandchild was born; Xander Lucas, my older sister and mother were diagnosed with breast cancer, I also had two back surgeries and my son got divorced. We lost my older sister Bonnie's cancer came back, and we lost her in April of 2012. In 2004, we had a fire in our dream house, because it is brick, the whole inside and the roof had to be rebuilt. Now that it is over our house is even more beautiful than before, but the fire was in May, and we couldn't move back in until Nov. it was really awful. In 2005, our third grandchild was born; Klifton Kohl (named after my dad), Luke and I both had back surgeries one day apart (fun ha). In 2006, our fourth grandchild was born; Kamyrn Alisa Marie, I was diagnosed with breast cancer, after several surgeries and chemo; I had to retire from my job. Last fall my children bought me a puppy, his name is Mac, he is a cockapoo, and he has really helped me to keep moving. May 31st of last year, my son got remarried to a wonderful woman who on May 31st of this year had my fifth grandchild Rylee Jean. In 2008, I joined our class committee, and we had a great 30 class reunion. Being involved in this was great for me. At the reunion we all voted to have a 50th Birthday Party Bash in 2010, so for two years I helped the committee, and we had the best 50th birthday party ever, we even had fireworks, thanks to Bill Gifford. Also, in 2010, my husband had to retire. Since then, we have spent a lot of time together enjoying our family, friends, home and our dog. I have reconnected with so many classmates on Facebook. In 2013 we had our 35th Friday night get together at Half-time Bar and Grill, but it rained and was loud and crowded. It would have been great if we could have used the picnic area. Steve and Bonnie Hazelton offered us to have a picnic at their beautiful home in Argyle, the best hamburgers ever. Bill Gifford came and shared his knowledge about fireworks and also gave us another nice show. I am so glad that we went to Steve's picnic because he really enjoyed having us and sadly a year later Steve passed away. Our 40th reunion's Friday night event was at Humbugg's and we had a great turn out and a great time. We planned a cruise on L.G. but not enough people signed up. So, Tina Swears DeMarsh organized a dinner at Saratoga Racino. It was very nice. In 2019, we had our sixth grandchild, Shilohbella and she has been a God send. For some reason, the year before our 60th Birthday Party, I thought about planning another birthday party, but my guts told me not to and it was a good thing because it would have been cancelled because of Covid. During Covid we lost our beloved dog, Mac in July 2021. Then in February of 2022, I lost the love of my life and the best party helper a girl could have. After 36 years together I lost my Luke. I guess I am telling you all this because we have had many wonderful times and some not so wonderful, but I have learned to live every day to its fullest and that you can never have enough friends. Luke taught me that. All you girl scouts out there should remember this, make new friends but keep the old one is silver and the other gold. Also, we have lost 31 classmates in the last 44 years. I sent out a message and so far, I think we are going to Humbugg's again for our Friday night get-together and we need to decide what to do for our Reunion. I have learned not to miss a chance to be with people in our lives because we really never know when we might lose the chance to. I hope to see as many of you as possible so we can share stories of our past and our present.
Donna Derway McCane
Create Your Badge
VIEW ALL BIOGRAPHIES
|
Indicates an included photo
