Danielson was a native of Nevada, being born here in 1934 to Ray and Vera (Eubank) Danielson. She graduated from Fernald High School in 1953 and earned her bachelor's degree in applied arts from Iowa State University in 1957.
She became the advertising manager for Utica Clothing Company in Des Moines for two years, and then returned to Iowa State to pursue her master's degree, which she earned in 1961. From 1961-1964, she served as assistant professor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. In 1964, she returned to Iowa State, where she earned acclaim for her teaching excellence through her consecutive appointments in both textiles and clothing and applied arts departments. She retired in 1991. Her teaching contributions to Iowa State University are recognized through the Donna Rae Danielson Textiles and Clothing Conservation Laboratory in Morrill Hall.
Danielson also had an original Christmas card collection, which is now part of, the Iowa State Museum's collection.
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The summer 2008 newsletter for ISU alumni and friends of the College of Human Sciences featured a piece about Danielson's gift to the University, a gift which created an endowed professorship in the Department of Apparel, Educational Studies and Hospitality Management (AESHM).
Quoted in that article was Robert Bosselman, chair and professor of AESHM. "The Danielson family was very generous in providing a very large gift. It's a tipping point, a paradigm-shifting moment. We're very happy about that."
Bosselman went on to say that the professorship endowment would enhance the reputation of the textiles and clothing program at ISU, by positioning the program with other programs around the country.
Mary Damhorst, professor of AESHM and a colleague of Danielson from 1982-1991, was quoted in the article. "The people in the field who knew Donna ... respected her because of her great knowledge and caring. There was definitely a talent and scholarliness about her. I think of her as a person who loved fashion design and illustration. She just lived and breathed apparel design."
Damhorst also commented on Danielson's willingness to share with others from her "endless files that she was constantly organizing."
Vesterheim contribution
Another story that appeared in a "Vesterheim" publication, told about Danielson's gift to the Vesterheim Museum in Decorah, saying that Danielson "extended her warm spirit of giving to Vesterheim by remembering the museum in her will. The modest, kindly educator who inherited her family farm properties was able to leave one of the largest bequests ever received by the museum," the story said.
The article talked about Danielson's love of Christmas. "Each year, for 40 years, Danielson created a beautiful pen and ink Christmas card that she copied and sent to family and friends as her holiday greeting," the story said.
Longtime neighbor
in Nevada
Judy Craven, a longtime neighbor of the Danielson family in Nevada, remembers those beautiful hand-made Christmas cards that Danielson made. Judy and her husband, Melvin, received many of them.
In remembering Danielson and her parents, Judy had only wonderful things to say about the family. The Cravens moved into their home in 1967 and became neighbors to Donna's parents and later to Donna, until her death in 2006.
Judy said that Donna took very good care of her parents in their later years, coming to Nevada often from her apartment in Ames to help them, and later, after her mother moved into Long Term Care, Donna moved into the family home to help care for her father. Danielson had lost a sibling sister in infancy, and was then the only child her parents had.
Judy said, while the Danielsons were very good neighbors, they were very private people, especially Donna. But she was very friendly and very committed to both her students at Iowa State and to her church, Judy said.
Many didn't realize that Danielson would have such a lucrative estate to leave at the end, because as church members have commented, Donna didn't live an extravagant lifestyle. But Judy said Donna's father and his brother were successful farmers and very intelligent investors. Those investments have now become a wealth of opportunity to enrich other people's lives.
"Leaving this kind of legacy to help others outside of herself doesn't surprise me," said Associate Memorial Lutheran Church Pastor Dave Burling. "Donna's mindset, her focus, her vision was outward and one of 'how can this benefit others. How can I look outside myself?'
"She was in my eyes, one who really encompassed that idea of servant leadership," Burling added. "She was a leader, but was very much, first of all, a servant."
