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Donna Stevens

It is with extreme sadness that we are announcing the passing of Donna Stevens of Saranac Lake on Oct. 23, 2019. Donna died the way she requested, at peace in her home overlooking Lake Flower and under the care of hospice.

Donna was an energetic and vibrant woman who lived to be 68 years and 408 days (she didn’t want 69 as her final age!) and was taken from us too soon. She moved to Saranac Lake in the 1980s and quickly learned to love the Adirondacks. She climbed the High Peaks, snowmobiled, downhill skied, hiked, kayaked, played tennis and raquetball, rode her horse Spice of Life, and swam off the islands of Lower Saranac Lake.

Donna met Stuart in 1987, and they subsequently married and lived happily together at their country house in Franklin Falls for 13 years and then at their home in Saranac Lake for 19 additional years. It was like Stuart and Donna were joined at the hip — they were very close and did everything together. Donna was integrally involved in Stuart’s veterinary hospital, serving as office manager for 35 years and helping C-sections to soft tissue surgeries.

Family meant everything to Donna. She was the matriarch and loved her son Steven Hilbert and daughter Jamie Grant, her grandkids Kaylea Newstead, Jesse Grant and Gabe Moynihan and Jillian Hilbert, most recently. She knew she wouldn’t make it to Christmas, so she bought presents for the kids and they opened them early in front of her. She also loved her great-granddaughters Olivia and Ava Newstead and got to see them all thriving and doing well. Donna loved and was extremely close to her sister Linda Fleishour, brother Johnny Sutton and mother Laura Sutton, and her friends Vicki Small, Marilyn Baker and Kathy Talbot.

Donna traveled the world with Stuart, seeing the Coliseum in Rome, the Parthenon in Greece, the Pyramids in Egypt, Hawaii, the Panama Canal and the Grand Canyon. She cruised and vacationed on virtually every island in the Caribbean, but her favorite was vacationing in Bermuda with family. Donna’s most recent vacation was to Lake Powell in Utah and houseboating with the family.

We are all emotionally devastated by the loss of our Donna, but we also celebrate and honor a life well lived by an amazing woman. To say that she will be missed is an understatement.