Lynda Donaca Wienk
Sept. 21, 1939 - Feb. 14, 2020
Lynda Donaca Wienk was born as Lynda Coye Smith in Sunnyside, Wash., Sept. 21, 1939 to Vern and Veral Smith. She grew up in Vancouver, Wash., with her brother, Roger Smith. Lynda graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Washington State University.
In 1962, Lynda married Douglas W. Donaca and moved to Lake Oswego, Ore. Lynda and Doug were married for 39 years and had two children, Ann Elizabeth Donaca-Sullivan (son-in-law, Shawn Sullivan) of Portland and Gregory Douglas Donaca (daughter-in-law, Jenna Arregui-Donaca) of Boise, Idaho. She had five grandchildren whom she adored; Ann's children, Cody and Bobbi, Greg's children Alex and Courtney; and her second husband's granddaughter, Galatea.
Lynda married Donald Wienk in 2008 whom she often described as "the love of her life." They met at Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lake Oswego. There, she sang in the choir and noticed a man ushering. She signed up for a class and Don was in it. He asked her out for dinner and a walk in the park. The next day they attended Cirque De Sole and were together from this point forward!
Music was in Lynda's soul. She taught elementary music in Portland Public Schools for three years and taught the children's choirs at the Lake Grove Presbyterian Church. Lynda enjoyed singing in the church choir and was part of the Portland Opera chorus for 20 years. Lynda was a private voice teacher from 1982 – 2019 teaching close to 1,000 students, at one point teaching 45+ voice lessons each week! Lynda was also part of the Novum Chamber Singers for many years.
Lynda's faith in God was impressive to the end. She was active in Our Savior's Lutheran Church in Lake Oswego; traveling to Haiti four times to help with the education program and touring to Europe with the choir four times. Lynda was an integral part of Good Samaritan Ministries in Beaverton where she was co-director of International Education. In 26 countries she built relationships with the young and old, while helping raise funds to build schools and send children to school.
For 50 years, Lynda was a member of the Multnomah Athletic Club in Portland. She enjoyed her stretch and aerobic classes and the friends she made there. Lynda had a love for travel; including eight African countries, Haiti, England, France, Switzerland, Italy and the Holy Lands.
Lynda died in her home Feb. 14, 2020 surrounded by her family, listening to music she loved. She will be adoringly remembered by all and missed greatly by her family, friends and the community. She was a loving mother, grandmother, mother-in-law, stepmother, wife, sister and teacher. She was an extraordinarily grateful, generous and talented woman who was full of life. She influenced many lives and was so thankful to hear from many of those people in recent months.
We would like to thank Kaiser Hospice, especially nurses Lisa and Betty and social worker, Athena. It was also a joy to watch her interact with hospice Pastor Tom who also shared a love of music.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Good Samaritan Ministries online at https://goodsamaritanministries.org/contribute/ or mailed to 7929 S.W. Cirrus Drive #23, Beaverton, OR 97008.
Please join us for Lynda's Celebration of Life at 1:30 p.m., Sunday, March 8, 2020, at Our Saviors Lutheran Church, 15751 Quarry Road, Lake Oswego, OR.
Please sign the online guest book at www.oregonlive.com/obits

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by The Oregonian from Feb. 20 to Feb. 23, 2020.