Donna Matthews
Jul 26, 1939 -
Jun 18, 2026
Donna spent her last hours at home with her family after requesting discharge from the ICU. Following an interlude of words of love, honor, respect and cherished family stories she said "now it's time for silence" and slipped away. She was a beloved wife, mother, grandmother and friend, and a respected figure in Anchorage's civic and cultural communities.
Donna was born to Norman and Mary Sample Stearns in French Glen, Ore., where her dad was a CCC worker. She and her younger sister Norma Jane and brother Henry Clayton were raised by Mary, who, as a single working mom, saw to it that each received college and postgraduate degrees. Donna reflected her mother's intensity, determination and competence in all that she did.
Donna went to public schools in Portland, Ore. She attended Stanford University where she received bachelor's and master's degrees. She taught high school English before moving to Anchorage, Alaska, with her husband, Warren, in 1964. In the early years here she managed a bookstore and became a fiber artist. She taught weaving at UAA and displayed her work in several shows, including collaborations with Alex Combs and Shari Holmes. Her work is part of the permanent collection of the Anchorage Museum.
An active participant in the League of Women Voters, Donna became a board member in 1968. That same year she was chosen to co-moderate the televised Senate primary debates between Elmer Rasmuson and Ted Stevens and Ernest Gruening and Mike Gravel. According to the Anchorage Times, the moderators' "charm stole the show."
She served as Commissioner and Vice-Chair of both the Borough Platting Board and the Borough Planning and Zoning Commission. On the latter she had the foresight to support restrictions on the development of private lands in and adjacent to Potter Marsh, facilitating that area's eventual refuge status. Donna served as a Commissioner on the Municipal Urban Design Commission, and later on the Mayor's Beautification Task Force. She was active in the movement that successfully advocated for 1% for art which has been a feature of Alaska law for the past 50 years.
Donna was among the founders of the Imaginarium. She designed that facility's iconic bubble lab and shared in the design of several other exhibits. She co-authored the instructional guide for the international exhibition, Science Under Sail: Russia's Great Voyages to America, 1728–1867, published by the Anchorage Museum, and the instructional guide to the Harriman Alaska Expedition Retraced, published by Smith College.
A skilled grant writer, Donna obtained a number of multi-million dollar awards for local nonprofit organizations. For more than a decade she was the Executive Director of Museums Alaska. In 1997, she received that organization's annual Award for Excellence in the Museum Profession for her services to Alaska's museums. Museums Alaska established the Donna Matthews Professional Development Fund in her honor. Also in 1997, the YWCA honored her with a Woman of Achievement award.
Family was always the main focus of her energy and love. She loved her children fiercely and was devoted to their education. She was a regular volunteer at Chugach Elementary School. Several of her children's friends remember the Matthews house as a second home and still think of her as a second mom. Donna, with her family, also hosted exchange students from Brazil and Uruguay; Sandra and Carolina still call her "mom." Her love for her husband was an unfailing source of strength and comfort to him. Her love for her grandchildren was unbounded. All four of them carry her impressive intellect, strength and talents. She loved every drawing and beachcombing treasure they ever brought her, delighted in helping them with their science projects and especially enjoyed collaboratively learning with them. The youngest made her a get-well card telling her she was tough as a tardigrade, an exceptionally hardy creature they had recently learned about together.
Other things she enjoyed: long stays in Halibut Cove and the community of friends she had there; quiet evenings of birdsong; opera; making Halloween costumes; her chainsaw; artichokes; theater at Cyranos and the Ashland festival; word games of all sorts; cross-country skiing and bicycling into her late 70s; impossible jigsaw puzzles; her bridge group and her book group, still going after more than 30 years; and facetime calls every Sunday with friends.
Donna is survived by her husband of 63 years, Warren; two daughters, Holly and Mera, of whom she was very proud; sons-in-law Filip Hristic and Chester Gilmore; four grandchildren, Maya, Opal, Mateo and Gus; and her brother, Clayton. Although she is gone, she will be with them forever.
Donna wanted to thank the ICU nurses at Alaska Regional Hospital for their kind and thoughtful care: Amy, Ginger, Nicole and especially Phil, who wheeled her in her hospital bed into the sunshine on her last wakeful day.
