Dorothy Grace Donati (Dege)
Born to Robert J. Ball and Lucie Schwerin Ball Dec 22, 1938 in San Francisco, CA. After an extended illness, she went home to be with her Savior Jesus, August 31, 2024 at her home in Santa Barbara, CA
Dege attended local schools and went on to graduate from UCSB with degrees in art and music. From there she began her life of teaching, and sharing her love of art (Calligraphy) and music to many.
Dege worked at Devereux School as a counselor and arts/crafts/music teacher from 1959 until 1968. She played the string bass with the All Cal Symphony for three years, Santa Barara Symphony (1st chair bass) for 13 years, UCSB Symphony for four years, and the SBCC Symphony for 23 years. She had the opportunity to be a camp counselor, art/craft teacher, and bass player in the orchestra at the New England Music Camp in Maine for three summers from 1958-1960. She was most fond of those summers and it was quite the adventure for her as she drove her VW Bug, solo, across the US and back.
Among her accomplished bass playing, Dege also exhibited (sold) her wildlife paintings at the SB Beach Art Show every weekend from 1969-71’. She created commercial children’s paintings which were sold nationwide. Both Diversion Dynamics and Eaton Paper Co created a unique concept of greeting cards which included a needlepoint craft incorporated into the card. Both lines “Sew What’s” and “Sew Sweets” featured Dege’s artwork for the recipient to complete.
In 1973, Dege studied Calligraphy with Roger Marcus. From there, she taught classes for 20 years through SB Adult Education as well as private classes and workshops. When it came to commercial work, she was hired to create beautiful works of art (Calligraphy) for the city of SB, restaurants, and many wedding invitations. Dege was also the principal calligrapher for Great Days Publishing Co for 10 years. During her calligraphic teaching carrier, Dege had the privilege of studying under some amazing artists such as, Donald Jackson, Ieuan Rees, and Dick Beasley.
From the mid 70’s until 1980, Dege learned how to create some of the most beautiful cakes along with her friend Eileen Prinslow. Eileen created the delicious cakes, Dege decorated them. She was one of the first in the area to pipe calligraphy onto the cakes, as well as master the art of creating some of the prettiest frosting flowers around.
After her calligraphy teaching ended, Dege moved on to raising and then decorating gourds. The new medium was amazing and her gourd art creations led to her business name, “Gourd Gracious”. From 1988-2005 she exhibited and sold her gourds. She was even featured in Somerset Studio Magazine.
In 1965, she married Ralph “Buzz” Cole and they welcomed their daughter, Taffy, in 1968. They divorced in 1979. In 1988, Dege married David Lowry and enjoyed 15 years of travel, home improvements, and enjoyed his children and grandchildren, until his death in 2002. Three years later, she married John Donati. They loved spending their vacations on their annual Jazz Cruises where they were able to get away, enjoy music, amazing food, and the beautiful ports of call.
Dege is survived by her sister Barbara Powers, brother Robert (Laurie) Ball, daughter Taffy (Kevin) Schiele, Stepson Bill (Joy) Lowry, and numerous grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.
A Celebration of Life service was held September 11th. The family asks that if you wish to make a donation in memory of Dege Donati, to please make it to the John Donati Memorial Scholarship (Polk Education Foundation).