Donna Pray

Donna Leah Pray, 69, of the Pray Road, Keeseville, died unexpectedly, Thursday, December 4, 2025, at her home.
If you knew Donna, you knew her strength before anything else. Not the loud kind, but the kind that stood steady in the face of storms and quietly held everyone else upright, too. Donna wasn't one for extra fuss, choosing a calm, even-tempered way and a loyalty that never faltered. She had a heart that gave long before it ever asked for anything in return.
She was born in Plattsburgh, NY on December 15, 1955, the middle daughter of six children. The family lived in Keeseville, NY where she attended and graduated from AuSable Valley Central School (AVCS) focusing the last few years at BOCES studying Quantity Foods. It was there that she met one of her dearest, lifelong friends, Diana Ewing.
She met Philip Pray while working in the family business and they were married on March 27, 1976. They started working at the Trails End Inn in Keene Valley together under the proprietorship of Elizabeth Lehmann. A couple of years later, they returned to Keeseville and Donna began working as PSUC for Marriotte. As their family grew, Donna decided to work a little closer to home and she took a job at Pearl's Department Store in Keeseville. After Pearl's closure, Donna's next stop was at Lake Champlain Transportation. She enjoyed her time there, working with her mom, Peg, at the Port Kent dock. She then took a job preparing meals for the Meals on Wheels Program for the Office of the Aging. She spent many years there, but ended her working career, again, closer to home. She returned to her alma mater, AVCS, where she worked in food service for a short time and then as a bus monitor. Even though her husband retired, Donna continued to work part time as a bus monitor with her dear friend, Liz, right to the end. She loved the children and the social aspect of working with friends that she considered family.
Donna served her community for many years, volunteering her time with the Keeseville Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary. There she forged lifelong friendships and touched the lives of all she encountered.
Over the years, Donna cared for many - her parents, aunts and uncles, her son, nieces and nephews, and anyone in the neighborhood. She had a way of showing love through action: a pot of soup left in your fridge, a rousing game of dominoes to distract you from heartbreak, or last minute ride to an appointment. She showed up every time, and she showed up for everyone.
Donna was preceded in death by her parents, Richard H. "Dick" and Margaret E. "Peg" (Fleury) Rock, her in-laws, Walter H. and Ethel M. (Baggs) Pray, an infant son, Scott W. Pray, and numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins.
She is survived by her husband of 49 years, Philip W. Pray, her son, Randall D. Pray, and his wife, Lee A. (Fefee) Pray, her two most cherished grandsons, Owen W. Pray and Warren H. Pray, her siblings and their spouses, Dianne and Michael Lynch, Debbie "Sam" and Dan Witherwax, Michael and Laureen Rock, Holly and Henry Coolidge, and Kelly and Jon Chew, her brother-in-law Steven Pray, her sister-in-law Nancy Drollette, and numerous nieces and nephews.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Friday, December 19, 2025 at 11:00 am in St. John's Church in Keeseville. Burial will be private and at the convenience of her family in the Port Douglas Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the American Diabetes Association or the Elmore SPCA.
Arrangements are in the care of the Hamilton Funeral Home, 124 Clinton Street, Keeseville, 518-834-7667.