Dana Filkoski

Dana Lou Day Filkoski, 91, of Denver Colorado, passed in her sleep on Sunday, December 13, 2020, at Clermont Park in Denver where her rehabilitation therapy had been ongoing after suffering a stroke in August.

Dana was born on November 1st of 1929 to Frances Gosnell and Wilson Day in Frederick Maryland and grew up in Mt. Airy Maryland. She was a descendant of 1609 settlers from England in Jamestown Virginia and her ancestors were settlers of cities in Maryland, Revolutionary War heroes, Civil War officers, and her father served in the penultimate Allied victories in France during WWI in 1917.

She graduated from Mt. Airy High School and then the University of Maryland in 1951 with Honors for Practical Nursing and Executive Ability in the Operating Room from the Nursing School. She was the first college graduate in her family.

After starting her nursing career in Baltimore as a Public Health nurse, she answered an ad for nurses at Weld County General Hospital (now North Colorado Medical Center) in Greeley Colorado, having remembered the City after driving through it with fellow nurses to ski at Hidden Valley Ski Area in Rocky Mountain National Park during a vacation through the west. Colorado was her home for the rest of her life. She immediately started working in the Hospital’s Operating Room, eventually becoming its Supervisor, as well as nursing in various other departments, including the Emergency Room and Pediatrics.

Dana’s advanced training at Maryland’s Medical School made her an attractive candidate for any nursing position and she enjoyed working a variety of positions including staff and supervisory, public and private, at hospitals, nursing homes, doctor offices, and in school districts. She even delivered her youngest nephew in his parent’s Rambler as they drove to the Hospital.

In 1956 Dana married John A. Filkoski in Greeley and they started a family.

Dana and John eventually moved from Greeley, to Ault and then to Craig where her husband John became the Administrator of Valley View Manor Nursing Home as she worked in nursing at Memorial Hospital and then as the Director of Nursing at Valley View. She retired from the position over 30 years later, but was coaxed back into nursing by the Northwest Colorado Visiting Nurses Association in Craig and Steamboat Springs and for a few years she traveled throughout Northwestern Colorado providing nursing care to farming and ranching families until she eventually became an administrator for the VNA until the 21st Century when, after over a half a century of nursing service, she retired from professional life.

Dana was patient and kind, she was calm and cool under pressure, she loved to teach her co-workers and employees, and was beloved by her patients and staff and inspired numerous nursing aides to become nurses and throughout the years these nurses have told Dana’s children that Dana was their inspiration to become nurses. She was a Florence Nightingale Honoree in the State of Colorado.

Dana was an athlete throughout her life and especially enjoyed swimming, bicycling, basketball, tennis, fishing and took up golf in Craig at the Yampa Valley Golf Course. She was an excellent golfer with a low handicap and won many competitions all while enjoying the camaraderie of the competition more than the winning.

Dana served in various organizations and in the 1970’s served a term on the Craig City Counsel. Dana’s and John’s house was a welcome spot for her children’s friends throughout the years and many of them considered her a second mother.

Dana left Craig for Denver after the death of her husband in 2003 and, even after suffering a stroke in 2006, lived independently until August of this year in her own condo at the Park Lane in Washington Park.

Dana loved to travel America with her entire family, with her husband, and by herself and saw portions of Europe, Canada, Central America, and Mexico. For a handful of years she wintered in Green Valley Arizona enjoying the mild winter climate during which she could walk, swim and golf and learn of the Southwest’s culture and biosphere.

She and her husband raised four children who all learned from their parents the traits and skills to become supervisors, managers and leaders of others. She enjoyed two granddaughters and was blessed with the opportunity to participate for over 20 years in their growth into mature, successful, women of their own. She cared for and was loved by numerous nephews, nieces, in-laws, and friends who considered her a second mother or a sister.

She was preceded in death by her father and mother, her brother Keller, her husband, and her daughter-in-law Susan Winger-Filkoski. She is survived by her sons, John D. and Michael (Jonathan Richard), both of Denver, and David (Cathy Boule) of Steamboat Springs; her daughter Lisa (Ron Macker) of Winchester Virginia; her grand-daughters, Abby (Graham Mytton) of Detroit Oregon, and Olivia of Denver; numerous nephews and nieces; dear friends; and all those she inspired who are echoing her caring spirit into the future.

Her family will not hold a funeral at this time, but a remembrance and celebration of Dana’s life at a later date, even though they sincerely thank all those who cared about her and cared for her during the course of her life. In-lieu-of flowers, her family instead requests that donations be made to local healthcare organizations that train and develop nurses, that care for the elderly, or that educate the young in science and reason.