DONNA HERBST Nov. 4, 2020
Donna Herbst (née Kalb) died peacefully in her Santa Fe home after a short battle with cancer Nov. 4 at the age of 84.
Donna is survived by her husband (Richard Herbst) of 63 years, her sister Terry, her children Pam (John), Beth (Michael), Catherine (Todd), Terresa, and Rita (Otto), grandchildren Mattea, Max, Patrick, Christopher, Marcel, Anatole, Xavier and Josephine, and seven nieces and nephews.
Donna was born in Illinois to Joseph and Lee Kalb. She went to Trinity High School in River Forest and attended the University of Illinois in Champaign where she met her husband. Their life together brought them to Pennsylvania, Maryland, D.C., Switzerland and finally to New Mexico.
After her husband retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory, they moved to the Sangre de Christo hills of Santa Fe where they built a house together. She always said she was “going to leave this hill in a box feet first.” And so she did. One of her dear friends fondly remarked Donna was “Not always right, but never uncertain.” Donna was valued for deeply caring about others and for her strong non-judgmental character.
Donna was a lifetime learner achieving several degrees culminating in a Master’s degree in Family Studies at the University of New Mexico. As a volunteer’s volunteer, her passion with education spanned decades of commitment to the Santa Fe HOSTS Program (Help One Student to Succeed) and the Los Alamos WHO Program (We Help Ourselves). Her other philanthropic endeavors include President of Los Alamos League of Women Voters (four terms), docent at Georgia O’Keefe Museum, gardener of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Los Alamos, member of American Ornithological Society. While raising her children, she was a 4H leader, school bus driver and organized the first Earth Day event in Howard County Maryland in 1970.
Donna was a talented seamstress, master gardener, bird watcher, dog lover, art glass collector and the best wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend the world has ever known. She will be missed dearly.
Donations may be made to The Food Depot, 1222 Siler Road A, Santa Fe, NM 87507.