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Donna Jean Golden, age 74, passed away Tuesday, February 17, 2004. She had fought a valiant battle against colon cancer. She was a resident of Albuquerque since moving here from Walnut Creek, California on July 3, 2000 to be near her daughter's family. Donna was born October 16, 1929 in Richmond, Indiana. She was the only child of Sam Busby and Mildred Coppock. Her grandfather, James Busby immigrated to America from Tyrone County, Ireland at the age of 16 in 1897. Her other grandfather, John Coppock owned an ice cream factory in Richmond and also was an auctioneer. Her mother, Mildred worked as a seamstress for the Atlas Underwear Company where the underwear for the Mercury astronauts was made. She grew up in Indiana and obtained a Bachelor's Degree in English with a minor in Theater from Indiana University in 1951. She then worked for the Bobbs-Merrill Publishing Company in Indianapolis as a proofreader, where she worked on an early edition of The Joy of Cooking. She moved to California with her husband and daughter in 1964, where she lived until coming to New Mexico. She was a homemaker and mother and volunteer. While living in Walnut Creek, she did volunteer work in the library at the Rossmoor Retirement Community and also in a Hospice thrift store. She loved books and the theatre. She enjoyed being near her loving family, who miss her dearly. She enjoyed getting to see the traveling production of The Music Man and attending recent concerts by Australian guitarist Tommy Emmanuel as well as performances of the Albuquerque Girl Choir, in which her granddaughter Abby sang, and the Border Brothers, in which her son-in-law, Bob, performed. She particularly enjoyed a trip to Durango, Colorado last fall with her family to ride the narrow gauge railroad. She is survived by her daughter, Susan Jill Gray; her son-in-law, Robert Norman Gray; her granddaughters, Amanda Sue Gray and Abigail Jean Gray; as well as by a half sister, Phyllis Gable, of Florida. Her body was cremated and her family plans to take her back to Richmond, Indiana this summer to be interred with her mother. A private family service will be conducted at that time, during which her request that Amanda play her favorite fiddle tune, Ashoken Farewell, will be honored. The family requests that any interested parties may make contributions to the National Colorectal Cancer Research Institute.
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