Toni E Garrambone

Toni Elaine Garrambone, 66 years old passed away on 5 December 2016, in Dayton, Ohio of advanced lung cancer. Toni is the wife of Michael W. Garrambone who she met while serving in the United States Army at Fort Benning, Georgia and married on 29 August 1977 in Columbus, Georgia. She was born on 3 May 1950; the daughter of Mr. Broughton Walter Ganaway of Gilliam, West Virginia and Carrie Mae Montgomery of Fairmont, West Virginia, both now deceased. Toni was raised and educated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and was an honor graduate of Schenley High School on 14 June 1968.

Following high school, she was employed as a draftsperson at Power Piping of Pittsburgh and entered the Woman's Army Corps (WAC) after her basic training at Fort McClellan, Alabama as a construction draftsman in December 1974. Toni was promoted to Specialist Four while serving at the 43rd Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy) at Fort Benning, Georgia and taught military drafting classes and basic mathematics to incoming soldiers. After being the honor graduate of the Post Intermediate Leadership Course, she advanced to Section Leader at the 36th Engineer Group (Combat) at Fort Benning and led her team in designing operations and training facilities at this installation. Toni played first base for the Fort Benning Woman's Softball Team and competed in various Army tournaments.

Completing her tour of duty in December 1977, she became an Army wife accompanying her husband to his advanced engineering training at Fort Belvoir, Virginia and to his follow-on assignment to the 29th Support Command in Kaiserslautern, Federal Republic of Germany. Toni attended several colleges earning credits towards her bachelor's degree and became proficient in conversational German while traveling to various volksmarches in and around Kaiserslautern in the Rhineland Phalz. While in Germany, she gave birth to her oldest son, Derek Wilson Garrambone on 25 October 1978 and later on 28 March 1980, her daughter, Tara Annett Garrambone both born at the US Army Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. Toni, Mike, and her family later moved to south to Karlsruhe, Germany for his command tour where she served as an officer in the Karlsruhe Wives Club.

Finishing the assignment and after touring many European countries, Toni returned to the United States in December 1982 and set up her new home at Fort Lee, Virginia. She continued to raise her family and attend colleges in the Petersburg-Richmond area. While at Fort Lee, her youngest son, Scot Brent Garrambone was born on 15 April 1983. Toni participated in Fort Lee team athletics, taught computer programming classes, and nurtured her early school-aged children. In 1986, the family moved to Kirtland Air Force Base near Albuquerque, New Mexico where she explored the West with her family visiting places such as Devil's Tower, Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, Juarez, Mexico, Las Vegas, California, the Hawaiian Islands, and many national parks and world famous scenic attractions. Toni was an astute trip planner and an outstanding hostess to all her many family visitors.

In 1988 the family moved to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and with everyone attending local schools, she completed her Bachelor of Science Summa Cum Laude in Business (Management Information Systems) from Wright State University on 10 June 1995. Toni was a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society and the Phi Kappa Phi Business Honor Society. Immediately upon graduation in June 1995, Toni was hired by Battelle Memorial Institute at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as a computer programmer and later through her diligent work and by passing several professional qualifying exams became an Oracle Database Administrator. She returned to Wright State and earned a Masters of Information Systems degree on 21 March 2009. With a genuine interest in business management, Toni earned her Project Management Professional (PMP) credentials on 14 August 2011.

In the summer of 2014 after a period of ill health, Toni retired from Battelle and spent her time making improvement in her home, traveling and visiting with her family, and playing many challenging intellectual puzzles and computer games. She was cared for by her children and her husband and continued to celebrate life and many joyous family gatherings until her health failed in late 2016.

Toni was preceded in death by her parents and sisters, Irene "Beverly" Montgomery Jackson and René "Baby" Savannah Perkins-Tinker. She is survived by her sisters Dorothy Beatrice Brooks, Paula Matilda Grubbs and brothers; Tyrone Broughton Ganaway, James Monroe Ganaway, and Bruce Derryck Ganaway, all of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Toni had great love for her granddaughter, Danae Elaine Washington and all of her many nieces and nephews. Service is being held at the Newcomer Funeral Home and Crematory in North Dayton with interment at the Dayton Memorial Cemetery in Vandalia.