Ann Bennett Donaldson

ann donaldson

September 29, 1943 ~ December 22, 2020

Born in: Foley, AL
Resided in: Atlanta, GA

Judith Ann Bennett Donaldson died on December 22, 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia

Judith Ann was born on September 29, 1943 in Baldwin County, Alabama to Rev. Clarence Bennett and Gladys Bennett. During her childhood, she lived in Robertsdale, Birmingham, Hartford, and Andalusia, Alabama. While her father was completing seminary education, she and her family lived in Louisville, Kentucky for three years. After graduating from Andalusia High School, she attended Samford University for two years, before transferring to the University of Alabama. As a college student, she decided she preferred to be called “Ann,” rather than “Judy.” Thus, began a lifetime of being “Judy” to her family and “Ann” to her college and adult friends.

After Judith Ann completed her BS degree in 1965, she accepted a position with Auburn University as an Extension Home Economist and worked in Wetumpka and Abbeville, Alabama. In 1967, she married her high school classmate, Harvey Donaldson. As newlyweds they lived in Mobile, Alabama, where she taught Home Economics. In 1969 they moved to the Washington DC area where they resided for 28 years. In 1972 she completed her MS degree in education at Virginia Tech’s northern Virginia campus.

During an eighteen-year career at Seneca Ridge Middle School in Loudoun County Virginia, she taught domestic and consumer skills to thousands of students. In the late 1980s, she took two sabbaticals from teaching to pursue her professional interest in early childhood development: first taking post graduate courses at Boston University and later participating in a forum at the Methodist Ladies College in Melbourne, Australia.

In her own home, she was an excellent cook, decorator, gardener, floral arranger, and seamstress; and she was dedicated to passing along these skills to her children and grandchildren. One of her specialties was homemade peanut brittle, that was sold in a Bloomingdale’s gourmet shop in the 1980s. She also excelled in planning and hosting special events including holiday dinners, birthday parties, and summer beach vacations for her family, and book club brunches for her friends.

Judith Ann retired from teaching in 1997 when Harvey joined the Georgia Tech faculty in Atlanta. For twenty-two years, she was an active member of the Georgia Tech Faculty Women’s Club, of which she was the Club’s 80th president in 2000-2001. In 2015 she was the recipient of the Club’s annual Elsie Paris Friendship Award. She and Harvey are members of the Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta.

Judith Ann was preceded in death by her parents. In addition to her husband, she is survived by her children Heather (Matt) O’Donnell of Doylestown, PA, and Maury (Miriam) Donaldson of Basel, Switzerland. She is also survived by her five grandchildren: Jake, Nick, and Skye O’Donnell, and Bennett and Elsa Donaldson; and by her sisters Karen Bennett and Nancy Bennett.

A memorial service will be held later. Memorial Contributions may be made in her name to the Trinity Presbyterian Church (Adele McKee Music Fund), 3003 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, Ga 30327, to the Andalusia High School Scholarship Foundation, PO Box 603, Andalusia, Al 36420, or to the Lymphoma Research Foundation, 88 Pine Street, Suite 2400, New York, NY 10005

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  1. Heather O'Donnell says:

    I love you mom…

  2. Heather O'Donnell says:

    I love you…

  3. Heather O'Donnell says:

    I love you always.


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