Dana Lee Manoogian

Dana Lee (Barron) Manoogian died peacefully and surrounded by family and love at the Lily House in Wellfleet, MA on January 13 at the age of 102. She touched the lives of countless people with her positive mindset and quick smile. Until her final days she would say, “I’ve had a good life. I did everything that I wanted and not too many things I didn’t.”

She is predeceased by her husband, Dr. Michael Manoogian, her son, Michael Manoogian, and her grandson, Jacob Andrew Manoogian in addition to her parents, Richard T. Barron and Viola (Zettle Speck) Barron and brother, Richard (Dickie) Barron. She is survived by many friends over the decades along with her son, Sam T. Manoogian and his wife, Mary D. Manoogian, of Eastham, MA and Summerfield, NC and her grandchildren, Sam T. Manoogian Jr. (Caroline) of Wilmington, NC, Sarah L. Gabauer (Doug) of Lewisburg, PA, her step grandson, Parker A. Hollingsworth of Astoria, NY, and her beloved great grandchildren Jake, Riggs, Jennings, Megan and Andrew.

Dana lived a remarkable life that began in Roanoke, VA on December 23, 1922. She moved during the depression to the Hyde Park farm in Burkeville, VA where her extended family lived as sharecroppers and care-takers of the property. She earned her RN nursing degree at Lewis Gayle Hospital in Roanoke, VA before enlisting at the age of 21 in the US Army in WWII. She served in the 48th Field Hospital in Normandy France and traveled through Europe after the war ended and before being honorably discharged as a First Lieutenant two years later.

She loved to tell stories of her post war years working for an orthopedic surgeon and traveling to rural hospitals in VA and TN. It was in that nursing role that she met her husband, Mike, as he was doing his residency. They married in 1948 in Worcester, MA where they raised their sons and where her husband helped to found Doctor’s Hospital. Dana and many of the doctor’s wives worked tirelessly to get the hospital ready.

Always modest and practical, Dana never boasted of her achievements or noteworthy life events. When asked why she joined the Army during WWII she said simply, “It was where the action was.” She lived her life in that active way at every stage, enjoying the Kingsbury Beach Road bay with family during summer vacations and moving to Eastham when her husband retired. She loved to enjoy a glass of wine or walk the roads and paths in Eastham with friends or to volunteer at the Eastham Thrift Shop and enjoy the many offerings at the Eastham COA. After a short time living near her granddaughter in Lewisburg, PA prior to the pandemic, she returned to her beloved Cape Cod to enjoy her remaining years on Kingsbury Beach Road and later at Maplewood at Brewster where she continued to stay active and make friends until her final days.

Dana was loved deeply and will be missed by many. A Celebration of Life took place at her family home on Kingsbury Beach Road in Eastham on Saturday, January 25th preceded by a private burial in the Evergreen Cemetery in Eastham. The family asks that if donations are considered, they be made in her memory to the Eastham Council on Aging who helped her to live a full life or the Lily House who helped her to leave this world peacefully as she starts her next great adventure. The family is forever grateful to The Lily House for making her final days comfortable and the hours after her death peaceful and meaningful.

For online condolences visit www.nickersonfunerals.com