Donna Patricia Gorman

On Friday, April 25th, 2025, our mother (Donna Patricia Gorman), took her seat at the Heavenly campfire alongside her husband (Kenneth Arthur Gorman), family and friends.

She leaves behind 4 children. Her sons, Donald Gorman (Connie) and David Gorman (Lisa) and her daughter’s, Jody Gorman (Mark) and Mandy Trotter (Kevin). She is loved and never forgotten by her 7 grandchildren, Adrian Mercredi, Raven Gorman, Destiny Gorman, Jacob Gorman, Mathew Trotter, Elizabeth McConachie and Emily McConachie. On the four-legged side, she is dearly missed by the last of her 15 dogs, Pepper.

In her life, Donna was many wonderful, important things. Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on November 28th, 1943, she was a daughter to Don and Pat Hutcheon and a sister to June Renton. After a move to Alberta in 1980, she became lifelong friends with Sharon (Ernie) Wittig, Sharon (Bob) Logan, Marg (Doug) Shorr, Mary (Ron) MacNeill, Anne-Marie (Al) Gingras, Bev (Marsh) Lachance, Marion (Neil) Ray, Glenda Hambley and Sharon Mayer. To her dogs, she was rightfully titled as the Fairy Dog Mother, saving and rescuing the most scared, unloved and abused furballs she could find. Alongside her husband, she was a volunteer for Lions Club Fort McMurray and the owner/operator of Concourse News in Peter Pond and Plaza II mall.

Less seriously, she was a road tripper at a moments notice, a police radio stalker, a frequent accessory to crimes of a gardening nature, a garage sale hunter, an egg salad sandwich connoisseur, a prankster and a wooden spoon yielding parent that always missed when she swung.

Donna loved coffee and chocolate, yellow carnations and prime rib, which she ate most everywhere in Alberta, deciding the best slab could be found at the Garden Café. She enjoyed camping at Gregoire Lake and Hangingstone Campground, spending summers and years raising her children as beach and dirt hoodlums. With her husband, she drove dirt roads and forestry roads, cut lines and trails all over northern Alberta, discovering the bridge to nowhere when it really went nowhere.

She could never go shopping without ‘forgetting’ to pay for something. She could never walk out of a restaurant without napkins full of food in her purse. She could never hit the road without her coffee perk, and she could never say no to a new pair of shoes. A Life without pets was unheard of, expiry dates on food were nothing to pay attention to, liver was always eaten with onions and if animal control ever knocked on the door, we only had two dogs, not four, and definitely not, the fluffy brown and white one.

This was our mom. Our Granny. We are her, whether we like to admit it or not.

She is forever in our hearts, a voice to our memories and always ready to make one last comeback.

We love you Mom. Say hi to Dad for us, and please, drop in for coffee anytime.