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2 • OCTOBER 2020 - Senior Voice of Hernando County
A Tribute to a Woman Who

Faced Life Head-On

With this issue, we celebrate the life of Senior Voice co-
founder, co-publisher, and editor emeritus, Donna Vavala.
Donna died on Sept. 6 after a brief illness. Her husband of 34
years, Jim, and daughter Shelby Keck were at her side.

I think I speak for everyone at Senior Voice when I say that
Donna was a great person to work for. She had vast experience
as a newspaper reporter and publisher, a never-ending flow

of ideas, and a great sense of humor. I will always be grateful
that she and Jim hired me to join their team in Feb. 2019.

It is Jim’s intent, and Donna’s wish, that Senior Voice continue
publication. They have always appreciated the support of our
readers and advertisers. We will continue working to provide
you with interesting stories and useful information.

RIP, Donna. I will miss our monthly lunches, your genius
with headlines, our shared love of crossword puzzles, and our
debates about the Oxford Comma.

Megan Carella
Editor
Senior Voice Newspaper

By Megan Carella

The early 80s clip from the a loving wife and a devoted in English. After two years,

Delaware State News shows mother of four, grandmother she left college to get married.
a photo of Donna Vavala of 13, and great-grandmother She raised her four children –
(nee Morgan) with her feet, of five. Her life combined Rod, Shelby, Greg, and Darrin
clad in worn boots, up on tradition and the untraditional, – in Delaware.
her crowded desk in a tiny creativity and common sense,
office. The walls are covered nurturing and risk-taking, and Donna embraced her role as
with photos of rock and blues always, humor. Along with Mom, said Shelby.
musicians. A large word her family, Donna loved her “She was a big-time family
processing machine takes up Donna Vavala, 1942-2020 dogs, the written word in all person; we were always
most of the desk. its forms, rock and roll and together going to my

With the headline, “She’d her deep-seated desire to the blues, and a good laugh. grandparents’ pool, having
walk a mile for a story,” the tell a good story took Donna “She was fearless,” said Jim cookouts, and things like
caption quotes Donna noting through a varied career as Vavala, Donna’s husband of that,” she said, adding that her
that her feature reporting a journalist for newspapers 34 years and Senior Voice co- mother used her creativity to
beat was “anything from a including the Tampa Tribune publisher. make staying in touch with
wrestling match to beach and the Louisville (Ky.) extended family fun.
bars, from skydiving to Courier-Journal, a founder “She was always there for “She would record us on
an interview with George and publisher of three us,” said Shelby Keck, cassette tapes and send them
Thorogood, a visit to Dover newspapers, a rock and blues Donna’s daughter. to our family in Ohio and
High School or Hartly peanut band manager, and someone Donna was born in 1942 in Texas. They’d do the same

farm. Wherever the action is, who would always take a dare Parma, Ohio, a suburb of and we’d send the tapes back
I’m not far behind.” – even if it meant riding a Cleveland. With writing in and forth,” said Shelby.
mule bareback!
That sense of adventure and mind, she attended the Ohio Continued on page 3
At the same time, Donna was State University and majored