LaDonna Irene Patterson-Gidney

LaDonna Irene Patterson-Gidney, 68, passed away on Friday, July 25, 2025, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

LaDonna was born on October 14, 1956, in Chandler, Oklahoma, to Donnie “Don” Odell and Alice Irene (Danker) Patterson. She grew up in Chandler and graduated from Chandler High School in 1974. During high school, LaDonna volunteered as a “Candy Striper” at the local nursing home, where she discovered her true passion of caring for others, especially the elderly.

After graduation, she attended OSU and later UCO while always also holding down a full-time job. She held several different jobs over her life, but her desire to help others led her to go back to school to get her LPN license after her divorce when her boys were small. LaDonna dedicated her career to long-term care facilities because of the special bond she felt with the elderly. She always balanced her work with what she considered her most important accomplishment in life and that was raising her three sons.

Though she considered herself a lifelong resident of Chandler, she spent time living in Missouri and Texas when her boys were young, before settling back in Chandler around 1993. She moved with Charles to California for his job in the mid 2000’s where she had the opportunity to work at the UCLA Hospital as a temp nurse, an experience she loved but was glad to get back to the slower pace of life in Chandler when they moved back after a couple of years.

Her boys were always the light of her life and she loved watching them grow into the young men they are today. After her retirement she enjoyed gardening, especially tending to her flower beds, as well as cooking, crocheting and sewing.

LaDonna was a member of Forest Baptist Church, where she attended regularly from birth until she left for college and she continued to attend with her family any time she was home.

LaDonna was preceded in death by her father, Don O. Patterson.

She is survived by her spouse of over 20 years, Charles Ashcraft; sons, Brett Gidney and wife, Dorota, Billie (Trey) Harris, and Matthew Gidney; mother, Alice Patterson; brother, Cliff Patterson; sister, Myrna Patterson-Beasler; brother and sister-in-law, Clint and Darsi Patterson; nieces, Nikki Beasler, Jordan (Patterson) Sullins and husband, Garrett, and Josie (Patterson) Reed and husband, Hunter; nephew, Kyle Earhart and his wife, Kristen, and their two children, Ruth and Jack; as well as a host of other family members and friends.

At the family’s request, no services will be held.