01/26/2026
MONTELLO — Lisa Ann Maile (Calkins) Drury passed away peacefully at University Hospital in Madison with her beloved cousin Cory by her bedside on Friday, December 12, 2025, after a hard fought, 15-year battle with kidney and heart disease. She was 55.
Lisa was born on April 5, 1970, in San Diego, CA to Leon Myron and Martha Keahi (Koa) Calkins. Lisa learned from a very early age that family was the most important thing in the world, and she loved hers with all of her heart. She was most proud of her Hawaiian heritage and her middle name, Maile, a Hawaiian flower used to make traditional leis.
Lisa’s young life was not without difficulty. Her older sister, Stephanie, passed away at just eight years old, in 1976. And just 5 years later, Lisa lost her mother, Martha, only a few minutes after the New Year’s bells began to ring on January 1, 1981. Following the death of Martha, Leon turned to his family in Wisconsin for help with his 2 young children. Doing so, instilled in Lisa and her younger brother, William, a strong sense of family and love. Upon arrival in Wisconsin, Leon, Lisa and William stayed with Leon’s brother Dale, his wife Jane, and their children, Julie, Todd, and Cory. Uncle Dale and Auntie Jane quickly became surrogate parents for Lisa and William and the bond between cousins became like siblings.
In the mid-1980s, Leon moved his family to Pardeeville to a modest house on Chestnut Street and Lisa and William began attending school there. It was there that, in 1985, Lisa met Heidi Shields, who would become her best friend for the rest of her life. The bond they shared was second to none, rock solid, steadfast, and strong through all of life’s ups and downs, for over 40 years.
In 1988, after Lisa graduated from Pardeeville High School, she moved back to her home state of California, to be closer to her extended family. In 1992, Lisa married her first husband, Kerry Miller. Although the marriage ended in divorce in 1999, the pair reconnected as friends years later. Kerry described Lisa in recent conversation as “a bright, beautiful, loving woman. A beautiful soul.”
In 2006, Lisa married her second husband, Donald Drury, in California and, on December 21, 2006, Lisa welcomed her son and the love of her life, Joshua Taylor Kainoa Drury. To say that Lisa lived to be Josh’s mom would be the understatement of the year. It was her life’s purpose, and she excelled at it beyond measure. The love that Lisa had for her son was phenomenal to watch and left all who saw them together with a sense of love and family.
Shortly after Joshua’s birth, the family moved to Wisconsin to be closer to Uncle Dale and Auntie Jane because Lisa wanted young Joshua to know the enduring love of family that she knew when she was young.
In 2010, Lisa began having some medical difficulties that culminated in a diagnosis of kidney failure, a hereditary condition passed to Lisa through her mother. And so began a difficult journey that would shape the rest of her life, beginning with the need for a kidney transplant.
Lisa was a strong believer in God and prayed hard for an answer to her need for a kidney. She knew the odds, but she also knew that her family and friends were flocking to the hospital to be tested as potential donors. And one day, in walked her hero, her cousin, Todd Calkins, whose kidney matched Lisa. Todd’s selfless gift on February 3, 2011, gave Lisa the miracle she had prayed for and subsided her fear that young Joshua would grow up without his mom. The transplant gave Lisa another 10 years of good health, a precious gift, not only to Lisa, but to all who loved her.
Lisa is survived by her pride and joy, her son, Joshua Drury; her cherished brother, William, his wife, Maureen, and their son, Parker; her beloved cousin, Cory Calkins, and his children Evelyn and Emmett, whom Lisa treated as her own; and her best friend, Heidi Shields. She is further survived by cousins, Julie Vires and Todd Calkins, and their families; and her sister, Mona Poole, and her family. Lisa’s father, Leon, was one of 6 brothers, so the number of cousins and relatives is too vast to mention by name, but all held a special place in Lisa’s heart.
Preceding Lisa and welcoming her to Heaven were her parents, Martha and Leon; her sister, Stephanie; her Uncle Dale and Auntie Jane; her brother Kainoa; her “German mother” Margarethe Shields; and many aunts, uncles, relatives and friends.
In Lisa’s final days, she expressed the desire to go home and have a huge party. She did not want a funeral and asked to be cremated. While we weren’t able to bring her home before she passed, we still intend to have that party around her birthday in the spring of 2026. Details will be released on social media as they are finalized.
Lisa was a shining light despite the adversity she faced in her life. She never gave up, even in her darkest days, always putting everyone else before herself. If you knew Lisa, you could not help but love her. She was, without fail, the shoulder that everyone could lean on, no matter what was going on in her own life. Her selflessness and genuine love for all she encountered made this world a much better place. Every single person whose life was touched by Lisa was blessed beyond measure and her loss will be felt indefinitely by many, many people.
“When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart and you will see that, in truth, you are weeping for that which has been your delight.” — Kahlil Gibran
Thank you, Lisa, for being our delight. Thank you for being bright sunshine. Thank you for being a beacon on dark days, a place of respite for our weary hearts and minds. Thank you for being you. We miss you.
