Donna Jean McKernan

Donna Jean McKernan

Donna Jean (Cecchini) McKernan was born in San Francisco on February 17, 1936, to Benjamin and Dorothy Cecchini. She had a younger sister, Sandra Cecchini. Donna attended Convent of the Sacred Heart Parochial school through 12th grade. She met her good friends Loraine and Yvonne McKernan in church. They introduced her to their brother Malcom Dean McKernan. They were married in 1955. Donna and Malcom had four children and moved to Dublin, Ca in 1965.

Donna worked for Macy’s while the children were young. She started going to college and graduated from UC Berkley. She then pursued a Masters and achieved her PhD in Philosophy. Around 1980 she secured a position at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She taught Philosophy and worked for the Dean of Women at the UNM.

Donna left the UNM faculty to pursue a passion of working with Mentally Challenged adults who had aged out of the various state programs but still needed assistance and education. She was able to help numerous young adults gain the skills needed to be self-sufficient and gainfully employed in the Albuquerque community. Donna worked with local business to employ these young adults from.

Donna loved her home near the University Law School and Medical School, which she opened up to several students over the years as a place of residents. She loved her dogs Muffin and Butterfly. She loved flowers and her fish pond. She attended Covenant Presbyterian Church. Donna was preceded in death by her mother, father, sister and youngest daughter. There will be no services. She will be interned in California.

Per family request, in lieu of flowers, please make donations to Covenant Presbyterian church, 9315 Candeleria Rd NE, Albuquerque, NM 87112.