Dedicated with love and admiration to the righteous memory of
Donna Jean Tormo
1943
2023
Dear Donna,
Thank you for always sharing your warmth, love, and wicked sense of humor. You were one hot ticket!
Wish you could have stayed forever, xoxoxox
Born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania
January 27, 1943
Donna Jean Tormo, of Annapolis, Maryland, passed away in her home Thursday evening, January 26, 2023 – mere hours shy of her 80th birthday. She had been battling an aggressive cancer for a short while, and while we all miss her deeply, we are comforted to know that she is no longer in pain.
Born in Lansdale, Pennsylvania on January 27, 1943, to Walton and Thelma Alderfer, Donna was a friendly and cheerful child who enjoyed spending time with her many cousins on the family farm where her father was a butcher. Post high school, Donna attended Goshen College and Millersville State College, where she met lifelong friends and her first husband and father to her beloved daughter.
In 1965, after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Education, she became a 5th and 6th grade teacher in grade schools in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Alaska. After teaching for more than a decade and amid a second divorce, she serendipitously took a trip to visit college friends living in Aspen, Colorado. A plan to stay for one ski season, inspired a road-trip move in her Toyota Landcruiser from Fairbanks, Alaska to her new home in Aspen. Donna lived in Colorado for nearly a decade where she made many friends with whom she enjoyed skiing, camping, merriment, and waitressing at the favorite watering hole of Aspen locals and tourists alike, Little Annie’s Eating House.
In 1959, Donna’s family flew from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Washington, D.C. for vacation, which sparked Donna’s lifelong love of travel and flying. In 1969 she started skydiving and made more than one-hundred jumps, including a three generation jump in 2012 with her daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter, Maura, in celebration of Maura’s 18th birthday. In the mid-70s, she also earned her private pilot’s license after a harrowing solo flight involving a sudden, unexpected snow squall while flying through mountains of northern Alaska.
In 1984, she followed her childhood dream to work for an airline. She was hired as an agent for Continental Airlines based in Houston, Texas and about a year later she became a flight attendant and got her “wings.” She flew for Continental Airlines for more than 25 years, retiring in 2010. She enjoyed traveling to most Continental destinations across the United States as well as many locations in Europe and Central and South America. She and her family enjoyed spontaneously “non-reving” to vacation and spend time together. She also loved meeting up regularly with her fellow Golden Penguins and spending time with friends in Windsor Lakes after she retired.
Donna moved to Heritage Harbour in Annapolis, Maryland in 2019 to be closer to family. She enjoyed playing mahjong, as well as spending many happy hours with neighbors. She also enjoyed sunset boat rides whilst spending time with her family. Nevertheless, those who knew her well knew her most cherished pastime was taking long walks with her precious granddog, Mr. Bear.
Donna is preceded in death by her parents and is survived by her daughter, Jacqueline “Jacquie” Hogan, of Annapolis, Maryland, her son-in-law, Patrick “P.J” Hogan, and grandchildren, Maura and Connor Hogan. She is also survived by her brother, Kent Alderfer, sister-in-law, Susan Alderfer, niece, Megan Alderfer and spouse, Nicholas Valez, aunt, Doris Landes Godshall, and many cousins.
