Donna Andrews Russell

1954 - 2019

Donna Andrews Russell

Pewee Valley - 65, died October 16, 2019 at Norton Brownsboro Hospital of Inflammatory Breast Cancer. She was born April 5, 1954 in Lakewood Hospital, Lakewood, OH. She grew up in Bay Village, OH with her 3 sisters, Bertie, Claire and Elizabeth and her parents, Jim and Jean Andrews. In 1971 the family moved to Pompano Beach, FL where she finished high school then enrolled at UK in 1972 to return closer to her Ohio roots. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1976 from the Journalism College. That summer she started writing advertising copy at the Courier Journal, the beginning of her marketing career. Next was Advertising Director at Byck's, then Manager, Marketing Services at United Kentucky Bank, then Manager of Marketing Services NKC, Inc. (Norton Kosair Children's Hospital), introducing the marketing function to the hospitals, and finally Director of Marketing & Public Relations, Baptist Hospital East until 1997. Her free-lance writing kept her busy with regional hospitals, Home Builders of Louisville (Homearama) and Louisville Magazine. As the Pewee Valley Historian, her writing was focused toward the city's sesquicentennial (150th anniversary), occurring on March 14, 2020.

In 2014, she was honored by the Oldham County Historical Society as a Living Treasure in recognition of her work. She also was honored by the Kentucky Historical Society in Frankfort in 2017 for her volunteer service to the community. This award enabled the Pewee Valley Historical Society to win a state grant for the museum, which was funded by Brown-Forman. The museum will be named The Donna Andrews Russell Pewee Valley Museum. In 2018, she was inducted into the Daughters of the American Revolution.

In 1977 she married David Russell and as they started their family (Tess and Alex), they restored their first historical house in the Portland neighborhood. Their 2nd restoration is known as Edgewood. Both houses are on the National Register.

Her passions of the last decade had been her 3 grandchildren, her gardens at Edgewood, and Pewee Valley history.

She is survived by her husband of 42 years David, two daughters, Anastasia (Tess) Kurtz (Charles) and Alexandra (Alex) Longstreet (Andrew); three grandchildren, Millie Longstreet, Benton and Lachlan Kurtz, and her sister Claire Andrews.

A memorial service will be held November 4th at 3 pm with a reception to follow until 8 pm at St James Episcopal Church, 401 La Grange Rd, Pewee Valley.

In lieu of flowers, contributions can be sent to the Pewee Valley Historical Society, PO Box 769, Pewee Valley, KY 40056 in support of Donna's Museum.