Windsor, VT – Donna Rae (Berry) Townsend, 95, died on Friday, May 30, 2025, in Thousand Oaks, CA. She was born on December 18, 1929, in Newport, VT, to Oscar and Helen (Drew) Berry. When she was in the fifth grade, the family moved to Windsor, where she lived for the rest of her life. Her last 75 years were spent in the family home on North Main Street, which has an open-door policy to this day.

Donna graduated from Windsor High School in 1947. She married Winthrop I. Townsend on September 22, 1950, and graduated from the Massachusetts General Hospital School of Nursing in 1951. Donna's career as a Registered Nurse started with the Veterans Administration, and she had numerous stories to tell from two years spent traveling the country in the early 1950s as a military spouse, getting nursing jobs in every city they lived in. When their family grew, she took a break from nursing. She considered raising her children to be the most important job of her life. She never missed a game or a concert, and she always kept the cookie jar full. She later returned to nursing in the recovery room at Claremont Hospital until her retirement.

The entire family enjoyed playing games together and Donna was a wonderful bridge player. She also enjoyed solving crossword puzzles (in ink!). After her husband's death in 2000, she began to split her time between her son and his family in Vermont and her daughter and her family in California. Her favorite times, though, were when everyone was together, especially during the whole family's yearly summer vacation in Wells, Maine.

Donna was active in the Order of the Eastern Star and in the Windsor Hospital Auxiliary, and she had been a member of Windsor's Old South Church since her teenage years.

She is survived by two children, Martha J. Townsend and wife Erika Endrijonas of Camarillo, CA, and Winthrop I. Townsend, III and wife Karen Townsend of Windsor; one brother, James C. Berry and wife Jonnie Berry of Oceanside, CA; three grandchildren, Paige E. Townsend and husband Christopher Volk, Winthrop I. Townsend IV and wife Anastassia Townsend, and Ava J. Townsend; great grandson Arthur P. Volk; nephew Kenneth T. Brown and nieces Betsy Andrade, Diane Berry, and Karyn Vest; and other relatives and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, one brother, Charles F. Berry, and lifelong friends, Marcia (True) Burch and Patricia (Hastings) Waite.

A funeral service will be held at the Old South Church at 11AM on Thursday, July 3, 2025. Burial will follow in the Ascutney Cemetery.

Knight Funeral Home of Windsor, VT, has been entrusted with arrangements and online condolences may be expressed at www.knightfuneralhomes.com.