Santa Fe Living Treasures – Elder Stories

For 12 years Donna served on the board of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, and the professional services she donated would have cost at least $80,000, by one estimate. As an Earthwatch volunteer she participated in the research and excavation of the ancient St. Nazaire Cathedral in Autun, France. Her work has been honored by the New Mexico Society of Architects and the state Historic Preservation Division. Her sculpture was given New Mexico's highest honor in recognition of art, the Governor's Award.

"Artists must be extremely vigilant in protecting that which has nurtured and inspired us," Donna says. And as an illustration that she lives by those words, the executive director of the Historic Santa Fe Foundation recalls recently seeing Donna carefully inspecting the plaster on the restored Hovey House. Donna had specified an extra-thick application of plaster, and when the contractor complained, she had held firm. And she was right--25 years after the work was completed, the plaster still was flawless.

Story by Richard McCord