I don’t remember exactly when or where it was that I first met Donna Olson. I know it was at one of the breakfast or lunch events I went to as part of my job at the local paper; while I’m fuzzy on the details, the one thing I quickly learned was that sitting at the same table as Donna meant you were in for a lot of fun.
Donna, who worked at the Howell Carnegie District Library at the time, was one of the friendliest, funniest, warmest human beings I’ve ever met. She had this huge, infectious smile, and an irreverent sense of humor. She loved people: she loved getting to know them, and learning what dots she could connect, and which bridges she could build. A hunter and gatherer of information, Donna knew stuff — lots and lots and lots of stuff — which is a good thing when you work at the library and your job is to link people and programs and information. I imagined her brain as a colorful information vortex, swirling with all sorts of interesting information, and it was truly wonderful having her as a resource.
We met for coffee once so Donna could share some methods for researching information online through various databases. It was over that coffee that we learned just how much we had in common: We both graduated from South Lake High School in St. Clair Shores. Though she was a couple years ahead of me, and though I lived in East Detroit, we knew a lot of the same families. And we shared the shorthand of being East Siders during a time of great change and upheaval; we shared the experiences of the construction of I-94, and attending public school at the height of the busing controversy, and hanging out at the Big Boy at the corner of 9 Mile and Jefferson. Donna always referred to us as “East Side Girls.”
(For those of you not from the Detroit area, the side of Woodward Avenue on which you lived determined your status as an East or West Sider.)
Donna worked for a dozen or so years at the Howell Carnegie District Library before leaving in 2015 for a position at the Salem-South Lyon District Library; in 2017, she became that library’s director.
It is because of Donna that I had the thrill of interviewing David Maraniss, an associate editor at The Washington Post and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. Maraniss was appearing in South Lyon as part of Michigan’s 2016 Notable Books Tour with his “Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story.” You can read that interview here.
It was a co-worker at the Salem-South Lyon District Library who one day noticed Donna’s face drooping on the left.
“She called my family, who drove me to the ER at Woodlands,” Donna told me. “After an MRI, I was ambulanced to St. Joe’s in Ypsilanti. The surgeon said I was fortunate I was working; my colleague saved my life.”
The diagnosis of brain cancer for one with such a fine mind seems cruelly ironic, but Donna took it in stride. She said she knew she was on “borrowed time.” She retired in early 2021.
“I am taking it one day at a time,” she said. “I loved working, but I really love retirement. Chuck (her husband) is retired and my girls are working from home. They are keeping a close eye on me.”
I reminded her of how tough us East Side Girls can be. She agreed: “I think of that a lot,” she said. “We don’t go easy into the night.”
Donna kept in touch, sending me messages with interesting information and story ideas.
Knowing her cancer prognosis, Donna’s death didn’t come as a complete surprise, but I was caught off-guard nonetheless. With the rest of the community, I am mourning the loss of someone whose mission was to make the world a kinder, gentler, smarter and better place by find the connections between us and building on them. You can check out the condolences and remembrances on her Facebook page.
Holly Ward Lamb, director of the Howell Carnegie District Library, said Donna believed in the power of the public library.
“She was also great at challenging the status quo,” Ward Lamb said. “I will miss her.”
Kathleen Murray, who worked with Donna for more than a decade at the Howell library, described her as having “unbridled enthusiasm” for providing library services.
“She made every project fun for the community and the staff,” she said.
Yes, Donna also leaves us with fond memories of how much fun she was.
Donna was blessed with her husband, Chuck, and their three children: Ken, Catherine, and Susan. You can read her obituary by clicking here. A celebration of her life will take place at a date and location to be determined.
