River took their beloved mom

M.K Smith, Star Tribune

The youngest Donahue sisters, ElizaBeth, 13, left, and Amber, 17, comforted each other. “We were just swimming … just laughing, having a good time,” ElizaBeth Donahue said. “All of a sudden, this big wave came.” Bystanders were able to rescue ElizaBeth and a friend.

The 41-year-old South St. Paul mother of four was overcome by strong waves in the St. Croix River.

By CHAO XIONG, Star Tribune

Last update: July 7, 2008 - 12:16 PM

Lona Y. Donahue picked her July 4th camping spot and swimming hole with one criterion in mind: They needed cell phone reception so she could stay in touch with her expecting daughter.

She didn't want to miss the birth of her second grandchild, a girl due today, so on Saturday Donahue found herself at Pembles Beach on the St. Croix River just south of Hudson, Wis. At 12:09 p.m. she spoke with the mom-to-be, Anna Donahue. By 1:30 p.m. she was missing, overcome by large waves in the St. Croix. Rescue teams recovered her body at 11:30 a.m. Sunday in 55 feet of water.

Anna Donahue had her baby girl pegged as an Olivia, but now the little girl is going to be named after the grandmother she'll never meet.

"She's the only one we've ever had in our lives," said Anna Donahue, 19, the second of Lona's four daughters. "She was Super Mom."

Lona Donahue, 41, was standing on a submerged sandbar Saturday with her youngest daughter, ElizaBeth and ElizaBeth's friend, both 13, when strong waves pushed them down the river.

"We were just swimming ... just laughing, having a good time," ElizaBeth Donahue said Sunday afternoon. "All of a sudden, this big wave came."

The trio tried to swim toward shore, but couldn't fight the choppy water. They turned onto their backs.

"Help! Please get us!" they yelled. "Save us!"

They hadn't expected such strong waves in water that was about chest high, said ElizaBeth, who's 5 feet 4. They'd all swum in that exact same spot on Friday without any worries.

But Saturday the river was choppier and stronger, sweeping the girls' mother away as two bystanders, Matthew Finley, 19, of River Falls, Wis., and Matthew Leick, 23, of Hudson rescued the girls.

Lona and the girls were supposed to grab ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery after their swim, and light some fireworks. It was going to be like this much of the summer, her daughters had thought. Their mother had purchased a season pass to Wisconsin parks just days before she drowned.

Lona Donahue was only 5 feet 1 and about 100 pounds, but she was a strong and safety-conscious swimmer who never let her children go into shoulder-deep water, her daughters said. She also has a grown stepson.

"I know she didn't go down without a fight," said her oldest daughter, Erica, 21.

Rescue teams from four counties and three other agencies searched for Lona Donahue on Saturday night and Sunday morning at the secluded beach, which has no lifeguard on duty and signs warning swimmers to swim at their own risk.

Her four daughters -- Erica, Anna, 17-year-old Amber and ElizaBeth -- cried and laughed Sunday as they recalled how their mother -- their best friend -- raised them single-handedly while opening her home to displaced relatives. She raised one of their cousins as her own, getting the girl back into school after she was kicked out at age 13. She hosted dozens of relatives for all of the major holidays, they said, and never turned away anyone who needed help even if she was down on her own luck.

"She never backed down from nothing," said Lona Donahue's mother, Dian Fuller. "She was a very strong-willed person."

Lona Donahue was born in Torrance, Calif., and raised in St. Paul. She worked in cosmetology for a while, but recently worked as a cashier at a Wendy's in Bloomington alongside daughter Erica.

Watching television reports of their mom's death Sunday, Erica and her sisters broke down in sobs, uncertain of what will become of their family. Erica, who has a 1 1/2-year-old daughter, hopes to gain custody of her sisters ElizaBeth and Amber.

It's unclear if the girls will be able to stay in their mother's South St. Paul home. Plans for a memorial fund and their mother's funeral are underway.

"It's still like, 'Is this really happening?'" Erica Donahue said.

Chao Xiong • 612-673-4391