As the sun came up on October 13, 1978, a pretty little blue-eyed, blonde-haired baby was born to David and Edna Wallace. Thus, she was named Dawna. She was never the girly-girl and with 3 older sisters and 2 older brothers, she was determined to be her daddy’s 3rd son.

She hated dresses, would wet her hair down as soon as her mom curled it, considered ball shorts formal attire, and was never seen in a bathing suit without a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, and sometimes even a dickie. She considered her Hanes boxer briefs sacred and referred to them only as her garments.

There was never a cat she didn’t love or dog she didn’t want. She loved the outdoors and every chance she got she would grab a fishing pole and tackle box and head for a reservoir where she would spend the day hoping to land a big one.

Dawna was always the life of the party, with her crazy “CaCaw” bird call, her funky rhythm dance moves with her shorts hiked up to her nipples, or doing her Kung Fu karate chops flying through the air. She always kept everyone laughing for hours.

As a little girl she would turn anything she could find into a bat and ball. From a hanger and a rolled up pair of socks to flyswatters and wadded up paper towels, she would spend hours batting garbage across the room. As she got older her swing got more accurate and her throws more powerful. She could throw a ball from anywhere in the outfield straight to home base. She was known as “The Cannon”. Her competitive nature and her obsession for baseball got her through high school and a scholarship to college.

Sports were her life until a little blue-eyed, blonde-haired baby came bouncing into her world. She then went back to college and became a nurse. She was so proud of herself and invited everyone to her nursing school graduation. We all sat proudly in the audience as they announced the graduation of “Dawna Cornucopia Wallace”. Needless to say, she had us all belly laughing as she acted perfectly normal and walked across the stage to get her diploma. She said everyone else had a middle name and she didn’t want to feel left out. Cornucopia was the first thing she thought of when they asked her for her full name.

On July 11, 2026 her heart stopped beating. She grabbed her fishing pole and tackle box and headed off to find her dad and do some fishing behind the pearly gates. She then met up with her sister Joan, her nephew Justin, her aunt Patsy, aunt Becky, aunt Diana, Grandma and Grandpa Wallace, and Grandma McKee to catch up on the family gossip.

She left behind her daughter Mikayla, her mother Edna, sister Joleen (Terrell) Huber, brother Aaron (Karen) Wallace, brother Jarod (Kim) Wallace, sister Nadine Sillito, countless nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, cousins, ex-wife Becca, her cats Luna, Precious, and Tom, and girlfriend Diana who stayed by her side and cared for her for many years. We will be eternally grateful for the love, care and constant companionship Diana provided to her.

On August 16, 2026 we will all gather at the Big Field Pavillion at Sugar House Park in Salt Lake City from 6 to 10 pm to laugh, cry and just be together as we remember and celebrate her life.