One snowy evening last December, Donna Wallace’s Lowry home brimmed with neighbors enjoying cocktails, laughter and stories about who put up the best holiday decorations. The event was a progressive party and Wallace’s home was the last stop. “We had already been to several houses,” Donna said, “and I put out out all the liquor I had. Everyone seemed to love it. I looked around the room at all the variety of people there and thought, ‘I love this community.” And this community loves Donna Wallace.
Donna and her husband, Barry, bought their home in 2007 practically sight unseen – other than peeping in the window after she and her grandson, David, saw a for sale sign. Barry had recently undergone knee surgery resulting in a leg amputation and needed a home with a master bedroom on the first floor. Time was of the essence. They closed on the house and moved in a week. Long-time Lowry resident Chuck Woodward (author of the book Lowry: Military Base to New Urban Community) and his wife Judy introduced Donna and Barry to the new neighborhood and its highlights.
Donna has a natural gift for welcoming people into her circle. Their home soon became a gathering place for Lowry neighbors, whether for Wine Wednesday, poker nights, book club, coffee groups, yoga classes, art studio activities, backyard dinners and the occasional evening of holiday revelry. Tragically, Barry passed away due to complications from an infection two years ago.
Donna has always had a wanderlust (she spells it wanderLOST because she was lost so much of the time) and after her kids were grown when she was in her 40s, she rented her house and took off for Europe for seven months. Carrying a journal, a spirit of adventure and very little cash, she stayed in budget (read cheap) lodgings. “I stayed where I could meet like-minded travelers,” she recalled.
Donna loves celebrating milestone birthdays. On her 50th, she climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, parachuted from a plane at 55, learned to scuba dive in Australia, observed gorillas in the Congo, went on a safari in Kenya, and helped restore a coral reef just this last summer in the blue waters of Bora Bora.
For her 80th birthday, Donna came up with the idea to give away 80 trees to friends and family. She ordered trees from a local nursery and invited people to pick up trees on her birthday, enjoy a mimosa, some pie and pastries and a few laughs. Friends arrived by the dozens to pick up their trees. Last July she did it all again for her 85th birthday. She still gets updates and photos from people telling her how their trees are flourishing and how much they enjoy them.
Donna’s generous nature no doubt traces back to her own roots. She was one of four children growing up in New Mexico and the family moved a lot. She and her siblings attended small schools where their father taught. “I didn’t have a lot to do in a small town,” she recalled, “so I mostly read. A lot. And I played on the boys’ basketball and baseball teams because they didn’t have enough players.” Her mom, Belle, and her older sister Betty were influential on her life path. “My mom was the most caring, unselfish person. And I always called Betty my rock.”
After high school, Donna attended Eastern New Mexico College, met and married her first husband, a military man, and moved to England. The couple had three sons, and for a time, lived in a 400-year-old house with no heat. Donna remembers chopping wood and learning to keep the fireplace going. She loved that her sons all have charming English accents.
The family moved back to the U.S. where Donna finished her BA and MA degrees at Portales in special education. They eventually were transferred to Colorado where the young family skied, hiked and camped. But tragedy struck when her oldest son died at a young age and again when her second son passed away in 2022 after suffering a stroke. “I always cherish the time I had with them and feel fortunate to have had them at all,” she says quietly.
In Lowry, Donna enjoys all the neighborhoods and the restaurants that are here and especially the Officer’s Club patio with a burger and a gin and tonic! She enjoys where she is in life, now complete with a lot of trees, and in 2024 she took 12 trips including a three-week sailboat cruise. She, her daughter-in-law Shelley and another friend plan a Denver Botanic Gardens trip to Italy this May, and another trip with her son David – a cruise of the Balkans – in the fall.
Between daily pilates classes, hosting family dinners with grandson David and his husband Caleb, daughter-in-law, Liz, and granddaughter Lily, this philanthropist, traveler and a friend to many, finds time to volunteer and help newcomer families. They say if you want to get something done, give it to a busy person – and that’s Donna Wallace. She’s on the go, so good luck finding her and if you see her out and about in Lowry, strike up a conversation and you might get an invitation to a party or a tree on her 90th!
Meet Your Lowry Neighbors is a monthly feature written by our intrepid reporter Sally Kurtzman, who knows everyone in our community. If you have a suggestion for a Meet Your Lowry Neighbors, please send us an email to connect@lowryunitedneighborhoods.org.