Donna Lee Russell

Donna was born October 22, 1942 in Kansas City, MO to Donald E. and Lois V.(Lykins) Swinford. She lived in Raytown, MO where she met the love of her life, her husband, James Russell. They were married September 2,1961 at the Longview Chapel in Lees Summit.

Donna and Jim lived in Lees Summit until 1966 when they moved to Colorado. They lived in Arvada for a short time before moving to Longmont, CO. They also lived in Allenspark, CO before settling down back in Longmont. Donna was a stay at home mother until the early 70s, when she took a bookkeeping job at Cycles of Boulder. She worked there until 1979 when she took a job as an administrative assistant to the president at the Bank of Boulder. In December 1980, Donna took a position at the newly created Geological Society of America Foundation in Boulder, where she worked her way up to Director of Operations.

Donna received the 2004 GSA Distinguished Service Award for her dedication to GSA and the Foundation. She was instrumental at the yearly GSA conventions held in Denver and across the US. She and Jim (The Dynamic Duo) setup and ran the booth for the Foundation. People would come there and seek Jim and Donna out just to chat! Those chats usually ended up in a donations. Donna’s charismatic personality generated millions of dollars in donations to the Foundation over her tenure.

Donna was a loving wife, mother and friend! She will be greatly missed.

Donna is preceded in death by her parents, her daughter, Laura and her grandson, Robert. She is survived by her husband, Jim, son Brian, brother Gary Swinford, sister Debbie Sayers, her granddaughters Becky Sinor, Jordan Byrne and Nicole Russell and a new great-grandson, Zachary Byrne; as well as several nieces, nephews and cousins.

Donna will be cremated at Alberg Funeral Home in Longmont. Services are to be scheduled at a later date. Please visit www.ahlbergfuneralchapel.com to leave a message for the family.