Who We Are

I was trained as an elementary school teacher. I never tired of my job. It was exciting and allowed me to do many of the things I enjoy. It was a rewarding career. When we moved to Rochester, MN, no teaching jobs were available. Due to the huge Mayo Medical Center and IBM campus, many wives took up teaching jobs. We had a large Cambodian population, so I started a one-day-a-week free after-school program for them at a nearby church. When the Cambodians became established and moved out of subsidized housing, Rochester brought in 3,000 refugees from Somalia. These were mostly single mothers with children. The mothers went to work right away, and the children needed supervision. I organized the churches to provide a five day a week program called Friendship Place. We each took a day to run the program. I was on the board and ran the program for two days, then one day a week.

In 2007, my husband retired, and we moved back to Whidbey Island to be near my siblings. I helped at the free after-school program at the Hub where I met three teenage brothers and their mother who were soon to be homeless. I found them temporary lodging at my church and took the woman to the first meeting on "What to do about homelessness?" Three meetings later, the Whidbey Homeless Coalition was born. I was appointed as the board person in charge of housing.

Once the house was found, paid for, refitted, and the guests moved in, we still had way more homeless than we had room for. I started considering a tiny house community. We created a new nonprofit, THINC, using churches and private parties to fund and build nine tiny houses, and remodeled the main house for a larger family. We then had even more people needing affordable housing, so we formed a new nonprofit called Whidbey Island Living Legacy (WILL) to purchase land on which residents can build and own their own tiny houses. 

Donna brings decades of volunteer service to this effort as well as a deeply held belief that we are all here to help one another. She was an integral part of developing the Thinc tiny house project. Together with her husband Cliff, they gifted Thinc the laundry building, which they paid for and built. Donna continues to work on the Thinc houses and with the residents, offering support and encouraging community.

I began my career as a fine artist, painting murals in businesses and homes across the country. I went on to create a graphic design firm in downtown Seattle, which segued into Sea Script Company, book publishing and website design, now in its 26th year.

As both an American and a Canadian, I left the U.S. and moved to BC for a few years, then returned to the U.S., settling on Whidbey Island. I’ve volunteered throughout my life, most recently as the head of hospice volunteers at a hospital in BC.

I moved to Whidbey Island after retiring from my career as an entrepreneur, business owner, and as leader of various organizations at Boeing. I'm a lifelong native of the Seattle area and I chose South Whidbey as my home as I have been coming here since I was a child. My professional background includes managing technology teams, ensuring business operations run efficiently, and mentoring early career employees. My volunteer efforts include advocacy efforts at the Washington DC level for better cancer research, chairman for the Seattle Pancreatic Cancer Gala venue, and Boeing Cares volunteer organization. In that role, I worked alongside Habitat for Humanity on local projects, providing hands-on labor for low-income homeowners.

I am a native Texan living in Austin for over 50 years, and for the last ten years, I've lived half the year in Langley. I taught high school and middle school for 23 years. I'm an active member of St. Austin Catholic Church in Austin and St. Hubert Catholic Church in Langley. After retiring from teaching, I continued to engage in home remodeling and new home building. Among other projects, I worked on two of the THINC houses. I've been married for 44 years, and we have a son, daughter, and grandson. My interests include reading, gardening, woodworking, and singing in the church choir.