Aug. 23, 1933 – Feb. 6, 2020

Mary Kathleen Damewood, 86, of La Grande, died Feb. 6 at her residence. A celebration of her life will be held at 2 p.m. Feb. 22 at the La Grande First Christian Church.

Nicknamed Mary K., she was born Aug. 23, 1933, in Munising, Michigan, to Roy and Marie (Prentis) Johnston. She resided in Ironwood, Michigan; Cashmere, Washington; Corvallis; Brunswick, Maine; and La Grande, where she lived for 57 years. Mary K. attended Wenatchee Junior College and Washington State University. She married Leroy Damewood in Cashmere, Washington, on Sept. 11, 1955.

Mary K. was employed as a proofreader at the Wenatchee Daily World while in junior college and then in the personnel office for Boeing in Seattle. She also worked as the secretary in the journalism and information office at Oregon State College. During her two years in Maine, she was a volunteer switchboard operator at the Brunswick Hospital and a member of an ad hoc committee for a new senior program.

From 1963-1983, Mary K. worked for Ross Hearing, an attorney, and she spent the past 30 years as a bookkeeper for the Carey, Joseph & Mendiguren Law Office. She was a member of the Grande Ronde Hospital Auxiliary and was awarded for her service as the volunteer secretary for the Grande Ronde Hospital Foundation. She also volunteered as a bookkeeper for the Elks Lodge in the 1980s.

As a young girl growing up in Ironwood, Michigan, Mary K. loved to ice skate and play piano. She enjoyed gardening, playing bridge with two different bridge groups, canning, baking, sewing, knitting and camping. Her favorite moments were spent with her grandsons and her family.

Surviving relatives include her husband of 64 years, Leroy Damewood of La Grande; daughter and son-in-law, Sally Ann Damewood-Wight and Mike Wight of Portland; two grandsons; and nine nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Roy and Marie Johnston, and brother, Bradley Prentis Johnston.

Online condolences may be made to the family at www.lovelandfuneralchapel.com.