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Sally Jean Donegan passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 10, 2018 surrounded by James Henry Donegan her devoted husband of 66 years and her children. She had a long journey with Alzheimer's and is now in peace with our Heavenly Father.

Thank you for contributing to find a cause for this disease that takes thousands and thousands of lives much too soon.

Sally was born in Youngstown, Ohio to Ella Marie Nelson McCreery and Robert J. McCreery. She attended Youngstown State University where she was a member of Alpha Iota Sorority, Newman Club and Elected Queen of the university's Mardi Gras. In 1948, she met her future husband James Donegan in English class and soon fell in love. They married on June 14, 1952 and moved to North Syracuse, New York where James started his engineering career with General Electric while she stayed at home raising their seven children Mary Ann (Tim) Donegan, David (Ilda) Donegan, Carolyn (Kim) Donegan-Klindtworth, Diane Donegan, Kathleen (Richard) Amneus, Maureen (Brad) Abley, Nancy (Daniel) Stebbins. Sally's beloved grandchildren include Megan Amneus, Deanna (Amneus) Kuhlman, James Donegan, Andrew Donegan.

In 1967 the family moved to Cupertino, California, for Jim to pursue a career in electrical engineering in the Silicon Valley and joined St. Joseph of Cupertino Parish. Together Sally and Jim enjoyed spending time with their children and grandchildren, world travel, gardening and driving their treasured 1931 Ford Model A and 20-year membership in the SCVC Model A Club of San Jose. After retirement, Jim and Sally moved to Almaden Valley for a quiet lifestyle with views of the mountains, where they joined Holy Spirit Church of Almaden.

In 2015, they entered Carlton Senior Living together where Jim continues to reside. The family wishes to express sincere thanks to the entire staff for their care of both our parents.

James Henry Donegan
October 14, 1930 July 9, 2019

James (Jim) Henry Donegan passed away July 9, 2019. A devoted husband to his late wife Sally, father to their seven children and grandparent to their four grandchildren. Jim and Sally were married for 66 years and shared a deep love and Christian faith as they raised their growing family.
Jim was born in Mineral Ridge, Ohio in 1930 to parents Florence Cecelia (Holzbach) Donegan and Harry Lawrence Donegan of Niles, Ohio. He attended Niles McKinley High School, class of 1948, followed by Youngstown State University William Rayen School of Engineering where he earned the first annual scholarship given to an engineering student by the Society of Professional Engineers. While in college, he met his wife Sally and was active on campus as a member of the Newman Club, Mu Pi Epsilon honorary engineering fraternity and Pi Beta Chi social fraternity.
In 1952, he earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering and began work at General Electric Heavy Military Division working on sonar technologies. Also, in 1952, Jim and Sally married and moved to North Syracuse, New York where Jim studied for his master’s degree at night, while working at General Electric and raising his growing family. Jim graduated from Syracuse University in 1959 with a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering. After graduate school he continued on at General Electric. In 1967 he moved the family to Cupertino, California to take on classified defense programs at Applied Technology, ESL and then Advent Systems.
Jim was a talented inventor and holds two patents---one in 1956 for radio navigation and one in 1967 for transmission of underwater communication.
Also in 1967, Sally and Jim joined St. Joseph of Cupertino Parish where all of their children attended school. They were active in the church, and he served as a member of the Knights of Columbus. Jim was a life-long avid radio amateur (Ham Radio) with a class A license; he communicated for years with his parents, friends and other Ham radio amateurs around the world. He took great pride in tracking his contacts and kept a global map showing all the connections. He also took great interest in genealogy where he traced family roots from Europe to Canada and into the United States. Jim and Sally were proud owners of two 1931 Model A Fords and were active members of the Santa Clara Valley Ford Model A Club for more than 20 years. In 1997, they moved to Almaden Valley and became members of Holy Spirit Church of Almaden Valley where they made many friends. Jim was an active volunteer in the parish, including accounting for church donations and tutoring students in math. Jim and Sally enjoyed spending time with their children and grandchildren, world travel, gardening, and driving their treasured Ford Model A’s. Australia was one of Jim’s favorite international destinations, and he and Sally visited relatives in Canberra.
Jim was a man of great integrity and taught all of his children the value of hard work, education, faith and marriage.
In 2015, they entered Carlton Senior Living Community together. The family wishes to express sincere thanks to the entire staff at Carlton and the Vitas team for their loving care of our parents.
Their children include Michael Donegan (deceased April 1, 1953), Mary Ann (Tim) Donegan, David (Ilda) Donegan, Carolyn (Kim) Donegan-Klindtworth, Diane Donegan, Kathleen (Richard) Amneus, Maureen (Brad) Abley, Nancy (Daniel) Stebbins. Their beloved grandchildren include Megan Amneus, Deanna (Joseph) Kuhlman, James Donegan, Andrew Donegan.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to Alzheimer’s Association, directly to Sally Donegan’s tribute page at http://act.alz.org/goto/sallydonegan or via mail to Alzheimer’s Association, National Headquarters, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Floor 17, Chicago, IL 60601.