Temecula couple celebrate 75th anniversary
Gay and Jim Donart of Temecula, who were high school sweethearts almost 80 years ago, celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary June 22 at a gathering at Baily’s Old Town Temecula restaurant.
After they graduated from North Hollywood High School in 1944, Jim enlisted in the Army Air Corps and was stationed in Kansas as a mechanic, while Gay attended the University of Redlands.
During that time, Jim wrote a letter to Gay, listing all the reasons why they shouldn’t get married, and Gay wrote back with the response, “I do,” according to an email from their family.
They were married June 22, 1947, at the Church of the Lighted Window in La Cañada (now La Cañada Congregational Church), and in the early years of their marriage they lived on a dairy farm in Oregon, then a dairy farm in San Jose.
In 1952, they returned to North Hollywood after Jim’s father had a heart attack and Jim was needed to run his father’s diesel parts business in Los Angeles. A few years later they bought a home in Anaheim and lived there for about 40 years.
Through the years, Jim’s career branched out from Pacific Diesel Parts Co. in Los Angeles to Orange County major appliance parts and service businesses. At age 50, Jim opened his own parts business, Appliance Parts Bank, which was originally on Beach Boulevard in Huntington Beach and within a few years expanded to the Slater Avenue location.
Gay became a preschool director at Children’s Fairyland in Anaheim, and her career in preschool education included setting up and directing preschool programs at Grace Lutheran Church in Anaheim and at a Presbyterian church in Buena Park.
In 1997, they sold the business and their home in Anaheim to purchase a 5-acre horse property in the wine country of Temecula.
After moving to Temecula, they learned to ride and have enjoyed riding through the vineyards and chaparral
Gay and Jim Donart of Temecula on their wedding day, June 22, 1947. countryside. They also became members of the Temecula Valley Wine Society and have held offices in the society and worked with wineries and the society on many events.
At ages 95 and 96, they are still independent and maintaining the ranch, according to their family.
Their children are James Donart and wife Toni of Temecula; Deanne Donart of Huntington Beach; and Nancy Mayer of Temecula. They also have six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.