One of Lakeland Boating’s contributing writers, Damaine Vonada, of Xenia, Ohio, died on April 14, 2026, after a prolonged battle with brain cancer. Damaine wrote many articles for our magazine, mainly Ports of Call from her home state of Ohio. She won 1st place in the Midwest Travel Journalists Association’s 2021 Mark Twain Awards for her Port of Call article on Port Clinton, Ohio, titled “Northern Exposure,” which ran in our May 2020 issue (p. 46). A passionate traveler and adventurer, she brought a deep understanding of the Great Lakes to her writing and shared that knowledge generously with our readers.
Born in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 1948, she was the valedictorian of Jeannette High School and graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Pittsburgh. Damaine was a devoted wife to Lt. Col. John Alan Vonada (USAF), to whom she was happily married for 51 years until his passing in 2020. A wife and mother, she was the heart of her family. She first began writing as a creative outlet, which allowed her to balance full-time motherhood with the dynamic lifestyle of a military spouse. Over a career spanning more than five decades, she established herself as a gifted and prolific freelance author. She published seven books and contributed hundreds of articles for Ohio magazine, Country Living, Smithsonian magazine, as well as our magazine. She is survived by children Nathan Vonada and Monica Allori (Vonada), brother Raymond C. Martin, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Jay paris/ohio magazine
