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Donna Swanson Maytum
 Donna Swanson Maytum died In San Diego on June 28th, 2026, at the age of 79 from complications of
Alzheimer's and heart disease. She died in her home, asleep in her bed, with her husband Jack, daughter Claire, and granddaughter Eleanor by her side.
Donna Marie Swanson was born in St Margaret's Hospital in Boston on September 16, 1946. Jack was
born in the same hospital on October 8, 1946, perhaps sleeping in the same crib warmed by Donna three weeks earlier. Donna & Jack were to meet seventeen years later, on Saturday night, July 11,
1964, in the Rexicana Ballroom, a teen gathering spot and popular music mecca on the beach in Marshfield, MA, on the south shore of Boston. They were to be together for the next sixty-two years,
fifty-seven years as a married couple.
Donna attended parochial elementary and high schools in Boston and graduated in 1968 from Stonehill
College, located thirty miles south of Boston, with a B.A. in Economics. Upon graduation she worked briefly as a mutual funds manager at New England Merchants' Bank in Boston. In 1969 she traveled to
Seoul, South Korea where her then husband Jack was stationed as a communications officer in the U.S. Army Signal Corps. In Seoul Donna taught mathematics at the U.S. Department of Defense High
School to children of U.S. government employees.
In 1972 Donna & Jack moved to Newport where they both taught at Burnham-By-The-Sea boarding
summer school and The Newport school (in winter). Both institutions occupied the same facilities on Ruggles Avenue. In 1975, after the
schools closed, the Maytums bought a Victorian house on The Point at 24 Van Zandt Avenue on the corner of Third Street and lived there for
forty-three years before following Claire to San Diego in 2018. They spent most of the 1st year renovating the property. They also got involved in local community organizations.
Donna taught mathematics to seventh and eighth graders at the Jamestown School from 1975 until the birth of her daughter Claire on
December 31, 1980. She then began working with Jack at Micrographix, a company they started in a Victorian era former firehouse located at
4 Equality Park Place in Newport. The building had served Newport as a firehouse from 1895 through 1921 and later as a social services
center during the Depression and then as Newport's bus terminal. The structure housed a commercial laundry when they purchased it in 1979. The Maytum family still owns the property.
The Maytums were big supporters of theatrical productions at Rogers High School for many years. When they were approached by one of the
theater's directors to convert the firehouse into a community theater, they accepted, and the Firehouse Theater was born in 1999. The
Theater has presented many theatrical performances during the past 26 years, but has focused on improv comedy since 2006 and still hosts
live performances every weekend. Jay Leno makes occasional surprise appearances to test out new comedic material.
In 2000, Donna became the Director of Marketing & Event Manager for The Newport Art Museum. In 2004 she assumed a similar position at
the William Vareika Fine Arts Gallery on Bellevue Avenue, where she worked until she retired.
Donna was a force of nature and she got things done. One of her friends who had moved away, said she counted on Donna whenever her
Newport mom had a problem. Donna would either solve it herself or find someone else who could. She was always doing this for countless people, and doing it in the humblest way.
Donna served on the boards of many non-profit and charitable organizations during her time in Newport. She helped build and lead Newport's
Secret Garden Tour for more than three decades. Involved since its inception in 1983, she served as its longtime organizer, helping the event
grow into one of Newport's signature annual traditions while raising more than $1 million for arts education in Aquidneck Island public schools.
Additionally, her service included Child & Family Services, the Point Association, The Newport Rotary Club (as president), The Newport County
Chamber of Commerce (where she was selected as the chamber's 1st volunteer of the year), president of Parent/Teacher Organizations for
Cranston-Calvert School, Thompson Middle School and Rogers High School in succession. She was also prone to quiet acts of kindness such
as delivering late-night sandwiches to employees working on last-minute projects and researching job postings for unemployed members of the community.
Donna believed in giving back and making her community a little better than she found it. The best way to honor her memory is to remember
her in your own way and, if you are able, extend a little extra kindness or support to a cause that is meaningful to you.
For those who wish to make a memorial donation, contributions may be made to the Newport Rotary Club.
Donna is survived by her husband, Jack Maytum; her daughter, Claire Maytum; her granddaughter, Eleanor Remillard; and her sister,
Jacquelyn Fitzgerald, along with many extended family members and dear friends whose lives she touched.
Memorial arrangements are pending and will be shared at a later time.
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