When we began our 2024 charity campaign for our 39th Annual Awards & Charities Gala to help find a cure for breast cancer, we determined that we would broaden the appeal by acknowledging those with connections to the office technology industry who have died from the disease. The first person we noted was Sandy Lowery of Applied Innovation in Grand Rapids, Michigan, who passed away on January 12, 2023. Sandy was an integral part of the team that built this dealership, which is one of the most respected in our industry.
Since that initial announcement, we have recognized Jennifer Hagman, U.S. Bank’s North Central Regional sales manager, who passed away from cancer on May 22, 2024. Jennifer had an extraordinarily successful 29-year career with the company. Competitive dealers from her region came together to pay their respects. They made clear that this was a person who deserved no less.
Regrettably, we have added a third, Debbie Gaugier, whose husband Jim owns DL Gallivan Office Solutions in Portage, Michigan. She lost her battle against this dreaded disease on August 17, 2024. While she was not active in her husband’s dealership, she was a family rock, like Sandy and Jennifer. The three of them had one thing in common. They were all givers.
We borrowed liberally from Debbie’s obituary written by her son Mark. The original is an authentic, loving tribute from a son to his mother.
Born September 10, 1958, in Three Rivers, Michigan, Debra Gaugier was a member of 4-H and enjoyed riding her ten-speed all over St. Joseph County. In 1976, she was named Ms. Centreville, graduated high school, and moved to Kalamazoo to attend Western Michigan University.
It was in Kalamazoo that Debra met her husband, James (Jim) Gaugier. They met when Jim slipped on the restaurant floor Debra was mopping and fell. As Debra loved to say, “He fell for her.”
In June 1985, James and Debra welcomed their first child, Sara. Three years later, they welcomed their son, Mark, before moving into their home in Lincolnshire Kalamazoo. Jim started working for DL Gallivan, a dealer in Portage, Michigan, in 1985. He acquired the company from Dave Gallivan in 2008. He is proud to say that the dealership is now 2½ times the size it was when acquired. Another family makes good in the copier business.
While Jim was working to secure a future for his family Debbie took a job as a secretary in the Kalamazoo public school system. She worked for over 20 years before retiring. The Jim and Debbie Gaugier story is like so many others we have met, including our own. Spouses each work full time to help take care of their family. Women like Debbie make it possible for their husbands to succeed.
In 2016, Debbie began welcoming her grandchildren: Otis, Caroline, Millie, Edith, and Charlie. Debra would spend the next eight years loving and spoiling her grandchildren every chance she got. Whether attending sporting events, babysitting, taking them on vacations, or spending time at Lake Miramichi, “She took every moment she could to create memories her grandchildren will never forget,” said her son Mark.
Jim and Debbie built a family foundation over 40 years, and they could take a great deal of pride in it. As her son Mark said eloquently, “She will be greatly missed but never forgotten.”
The pain that cancer has caused for so many of us is incalculable. My mother contracted cancer shortly after I went into the Marine Corps. Three years later, I received a humanity transfer to return home to be with my mother when she died.
Our efforts to help find a cure for this dreaded disease continue. We began raising money for charity at our awards dinner in 1998. Over this 26-year period eleven of the organizational recipients have been for research to battle cancer. This one is for Sandy, Jennifer, and Debbie.
Proceeds from this year’s efforts will be donated to fund the research led by Rena Feinman, Ph.D., associate member of the Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation, seeking to improve response to anticancer therapies for breast cancer patients. Dr. Feinman is currently working to identify innovative approaches to improve response to therapies for triple-negative breast cancer.
Click here to access The Cannata Report’s fundraising page for breast cancer research that complements the funds raised through ticket sales for the 39th Annual Awards & Charities Gala.
