SOUTH CHINA – Donna Niles, a loving wife, mother, nana, sister and friend passed away Sept. 12, 2021, at her South China home with her family by her side following a long battle with pancreatic cancer. She was born Oct. 15, 1957, in Hartford, Connecticut, the oldest child of Wilfred Gauthier and Marie (Picard) Starbuck and moved to Maine at the age of nine. Donna graduated from Waterville High School, class of 1975. She made many lifelong friends in high school and met her husband, John Niles, with whom she shared 43 years of marriage.She enjoyed going shopping, eating out at restaurants, yard sales, gardening, traveling, watching the Red Sox and adored her family pets. She worked many jobs throughout her life including being a homemaker and worked as a CNA at several hospitals. She is now reunited with her parents, Wildred Gauthier, Douglass Starbuck (stepfather) and Marie Starbuck. She is survived by her husband John Niles; her children, Erik Niles, Nicole Ellinger (husband Robert); four grandchildren: Brady Niles, Kayla Ellinger, Audrey Niles and Blake Ellinger and brother Richard Gauthier. She is also survived by her fur babies Babs, Brindy, Taz and Twizzler.Visiting hours for Donna will be held from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m., on Saturday, Sept. 18, at Gallant Funeral Home, 10 Elm St., Waterville Maine. A committal service will take place at St. Francis Cemetery, 78 Grove Street, Waterville directly after the visitation.An online guestbook may be signed, condolences and memories shared at http://www.gallantfh.comIn lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Midcoast Humane, 190 Pleasant St., Brunswick, Maine in memory of Donna Niles.

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