Yvonne 'vonnie' Sutherland

Surrounded by her loving family, Yvonne ""Vonnie"" Sutherland passed quietly from this life at her home in the early morning hours of Thursday, September 25, 2008. She was 73.Yvonne Renoca Dionigi was born August 11, 1935, in Louisville, Colorado, to John and Elizabeth Marie (Winkler) Dionigi. She graduated from Louisville High School in 1953. On June 5, 1958, Yvonne married Ronald Sutherland in Estes Park, Colorado. The couple made their home on the Twin Lakes Ranch north of Boulder.In addition to raising her family and working on the ranch, Vonnie had worked at Boulder County Abstract, Longmont Dairy, and Vitaco. Her most rewarding work included training and working with her Vietnamese and Cambodian refugee friends at Vitaco, cooking for the homeless, and touching the lives of adults with special needs in the Boulder Valley School District's vocational training program; her impact continues through her special friend, Willie Pruett, who called her ""Grandma Vonnie.""Vonnie spent many hours in her gardens and decorating her home for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other holidays. She was a kind and compassionate woman who would do her best to help anyone she could without reservation. She will be remembered as a great friend, a loving mother, and a good wife, as well as a sister, aunt, and grandmother. She treasured all her friends and family. Vonnie has been a grandmother to all the children she has known.She is survived by her husband of 50 years, Ron Sutherland; three daughters, Toni Donahue of Boulder, Rhonda Klipfel and husband, Wesley, of Jackson, Tennessee, and Patty Auernhamer and husband, Roger, of Longmont; two brothers, Jack Dionigi and his wife, Grace, of Arvada, Colorado, and Rudy Dionigi and his wife, Virginia, of Berthoud, Colorado; and two sisters, Rose Steinbaugh and her husband, Herbert, of Louisville, and Marion Junior and her husband, Robert of Louisville. She is further survived by six grandchildren, Corey and Emmy Donahue, Katlyn and Kyler Auernhamer, and Megan and Wesley Klipfel; and 16 nieces and nephews.Yvonne was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Glen Dionigi; and a granddaughter, Sarah Carson.Cremation arrangements have been entrusted to Howe Mortuary and Cremation Services, Longmont. A Celebration of Life will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 2, 2008, at Rocky Mountain Christian Church, 9447 Niwot Road, Niwot, CO.Memorial donations may be made to Family Hospice, 1790 30th Street, Ste. 308, Boulder, CO 80302, Gary's Fund, P.O. Box 819, Longmont, CO 80502, or El Ayudante, P.O. Box 11686, Jackson, TN 38308.Please share thoughts, memories and condolences with the family at www.howemortuary.com.