08/26/2026
We lost Mike's Mom recently.
The obituary does an amazing job of highlighting her accomplishments, of which there were so many!
She was a remarkable woman, and loved and cared for her her family with fierce determination. She was smart as a whip and didn't suffer fools.
She showed incredible bravado and fearlessness as a young woman. She had the guts to learn how to fly an airplane as a teenager and left the home at 17 to pursue her jazz singing career! She was full of glamorous stories from her traveling songstress days, including falling in love with her husband, Mike's Dad, on the road after he filled the bar of her next gig with roses after seeing her once on stage. That's the stuff movies are made of!
Donna loved to read books, was very artistic, loved to eat good food, laugh and go to the theater. She has taught me that you never give up on
family. She taught me to be an excellent health care advocate for my
loved ones. She was fiercely loyal and protective of her family members, a true mother grizzly.
I am sure it was not easy for Donna when Mike and I chose to pick up and move to Wisconsin, leaving Mike's home behind and moving back to mine. Donna was stoic and graceful. She was gracious and supportive, always pushing us to follow our dreams and do what was best for us, even if it meant moving away. She loved our little bakery, and we talked about the ins and outs of the business every day on our daily phone calls. She was a true steel magnolia.
Donna was 90, and ready to move onto her next adventure. We will miss her, but know she will always be with us.
May 07, 1936 to August 11, 2026
