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| January 22, 2017 12:00 AM

Donna Elaine Hollister, 85

With so many years colored by laughter, beautiful gardens, sledding parties, cozy quilts, 4-H groups, her famous cinnamon rolls, canned peaches and strawberry jam, our sweet (yet feisty) Donna departed this world on Jan. 10, 2017, headed for home. She was born in Spokane, June 22, 1931, to French-Canadian immigrants Annie Valentine and Joseph Dubois, one of 12 children.

Donna attended Sacred Heart Elementary and Marycliff High School, followed by work at the Kress department store. She met Buell Hollister at a local Grange dance and they married in 1956. Three years later, they moved to Hauser Lake, Idaho, where they raised four kids, numerous pigs, cows, chickens, rabbits, goats, a few dogs, plenty of cats and loads of hay. She helped to grow organic strawberries and corn marketed on the farm.

Donna went back to work right around 1978 for the U.S. Forest Service sorting tree seedlings. She then landed at the hub of Coldwell-Banker Schneidmiller Realty in Coeur d’Alene as executive secretary, where she mentored and counseled many. Donna was passionate about environmental and social justice causes — a regular at Kootenai Environmental Alliance (KEA), Hanford Education Action League, Friends of the Aquifer, Spokane Peace and Justice Action League (PJALS), among others. Donna received the Art Manley Lifetime Conservation Award from KEA in 2006 and shared the Watershed Hero award in 2009 from the Sierra Club and Center for Environmental Law and Policy.

She co-hosted annual corn feeds, fresh-pressed cider and homemade donut parties collecting funds for local Democratic candidates. For a number of years, she donated handmade quilts to the annual PJALS auction. She and Buell moved back to Spokane, finding a place among the pines, in 2008. Donna worked hard, loved to sing and dance along the way, and adored her family.

She is preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, eight sisters and her son, Craig. She is survived by her husband, Buell; her three daughters, Maree Peck (Scott), Corinne Hollister and Stephanie Hollister; four grandchildren, Steve (Krissy) and Ray (Melissa) Peck, Alexis and Salvadore Mosley; and four great-grandchildren, Taylor and Trent, and Madison and Dylan Peck.

Donna’s life will be celebrated at 2 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017, at the Spokane Unitarian Church, 4340 W. Fort George Wright Drive.

Donations in her name to KEA and PJALS are forever encouraged.