Donna Lorraine West was born January 19, 1942 in Denver, Colorado. Her father found work in the Kaiser shipyards in Portland, Oregon and so when Donna was about 2 years old, her father sent for them and she and her mother took a train to Portland where Donna lived for the remainder of her life. She attended Portsmouth Grade School in north Portland and then went to Roosevelt high school. When she was 17 years old, she married Bill McFadden who had attended Roosevelt also. She said later that finishing high school while being married and having a home to attend to was quite challenging. Her first job was as a teaching assistant at Portsmouth where she worked for many years, primarily with remedial students. After that, she ran her own floral business out of her home. Her final job before retirement was as an activity director at a nursing home, something so appropriate for her because of her incredible artistic abilities and love of others. After retiring, she ended up doing something completely different: owning and managing rental houses for low income people. She often talked about how much confidence she developed when running this business. It had LOTS of challenges. About 18 months ago, Donna was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrigs disease) and died on October 13th from complications from this difficult disease. Despite the suffering she experienced, she so appreciated connecting and reconnecting deeply with people from the present and the past. She also appreciated all the new and old people in her life: caregivers, including her former husband Lowell. She never felt sorry for herself and as was typical of her, she saw the positive in even this difficult situation. Donna's mother was a member of University Park Baptist Church and Donna grew up in the church, attending from the age of 7 (almost 70 years!). Her religious faith was central to her life. She leaves behind her brother Brian (Jack) West, son Bill McFadden and his wife Mary, her daughter Lorrie Castaneda and Lorrie's husband Hilario, her four grandchildren: Bill, Salina, Jasmine, and Nicole. Donna was a gentle, loving, faithful soul. She will be greatly missed. Her memorial service will be held on Saturday, November 11th at 1 PM at University Park Baptist Church at 4340 N Lombard St, Portland, OR 97203. Donations in her memory can be made to University Park Baptist Church.

Source: River View Cemetery Funeral Home.