Ina Lee Donius

   Born October 31, 1929 in the house our parents were buying on McCulloh St. in Frostburg, Maryland. She died Sunday, May 18, 2025 at Sterling Care. Preceded in death by her husband, George Robert (Pete) Donius on December 14, 2014,her father and mother, Ellis Owen and Olive Ruth (Fike) Robeson, seven siblings, James Ray, Robert Owen, Anna Ruth Winfield, John Henry, Joseph William, Donald Ellis, Richard Eugene; one son-in-law, Edward Bahen, one grandson Jeremy John Donius and one great granddaughter, Lillian Hope Donius. 

   She graduated from Beall High School in 1947, completed a summer session at Catherman’s Business School in Cumberland the same year and attended Frostburg State College from 1965-1969 where she served as Vice President of Tri Beta Biological Society and was inducted into WHO’s Who in American Colleges and Universities in her senior year.   

   She began attending Allegany Methodist Church in Zihlman when she was eight years old and became a member in her twenties where she also sang in the choir. This membership was transferred to Frostburg Methodist Church more than 50 years ago.

   She began her working career as a carrier for the Cumberland Times-News for four years, continued as a bookkeeper and secretary for Rosenbaum Brothers in Cumberland for several more years and finished at Frostburg State College after twenty-one years in the Accounts Payable Department where she enjoyed the swimming pool as well as the tennis and racquetball courts on her lunch hour and breaks.

   She learned to sew by watching her mother make and patch her children’s clothes on a Singer treadle machine. Took a while to get the hang of it, but when she did, she went all out. Began simply by making skirts, graduated to dresses, jackets, swim suits, shorts, coats, cowboy shirts and finally tackled quilts, including a very special one that she bought and embroidered the names of 5 generations of our family-43 in all.

   Active in the community, she was a swimming instructor for the Red Cross at Beall Elementary School at the Frostburg pool, beginning under the direction of Bob Pence, and subsequently, supervising the entire program for a period of ten years. For four years she served as Cub Scout Den Mother, Pack #46 and ran the concession stand for the Little League baseball teams for three years. She also served as president of the Beall Elementary School PTA.

   She loved traveling, both nationally and internationally ( went hang gliding in Hawaii, climbed the leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy, toured Stonehenge, climbed to the top of the Blarney Castle in Ireland, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and trammed to the top of the Swiss Alps.

   She vacationed yearly with her family at Deep Creek Lake and Ocean City, Maryland. She also enjoyed swimming, sewing, gardening, tennis, racquetball, the theater and reading. She enjoyed growing up with her siblings, her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren, interacting with all of them.

   She also designed and supervised the building of both of their houses-the first, a stone ranch on a one acre lot in Zihlman, five rooms, a finished basement, stone oven cabinet, breezeway, garage, bathroom, outdoor fireplace and eating area; the second one on a three and a half acre wooded lot on Big Savage Mountain, complete with three decks, two bathrooms, a swimming pool and hot tub and lots of wild animals. Remember seeing one of the bears coming up on the lower deck and eating the ripe tomatoes that were awaiting canning.

   She is survived by one sister, Rosemary Grimes of Frostburg, her three children, Gary and wife, Nancy, of Severna Park, Sally Bahen, of Waldorf, Stephen and wife, Andrea, of Hagerstown, 5 grandchildren, Jeffrey, Matthew and Michael Bahen, Adam Donius, Shanna Warrenfeltz, and sixteen great grandchildren.

Friends and family will be received at Durst Funeral Home, Frostburg, Maryland, on Wednesday, May 21, 2025, from 2-4 and 7-9 pm .

Funeral service will be held at the funeral home on Thursday, May 22, 2025 at 11 am.

Interment at Mt. Zion Cemetery in Garrett County.

The family would like to thank the personnel at Sterling Care for their dedication and comforting care provided to our mother.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions can be made in Ida’s honor to the, Allegany United Methodist Church. P O Box 444. Frostburg, Maryland, 21532.