Helen Anna Donahoe

Helen Anna (Manos) Donahoe passed away peacefully at age 99 ½ on May 14, 2025 in Jacksonville, FL.

She was the daughter of James P. Manos and Angelina Manos. Born on October 8, 1925 in Detroit MI, Helen lived a long and eventful Christian life. She was married to the late Norman K. Donahoe, a Commander in the US Navy, who served as a fighter pilot and as the Executive Officer of Naha Air Base on Okinawa, Japan.

Helen grew up in Brooklyn, NY with her parents, two sisters and one brother. She and her sister had beautiful singing voices and together they sang on a radio broadcast emceed by Ronald Reagan. Throughout her life she sang in her church choirs wherever she lived. When Norman retired from the Navy in the late 1970's to Jacksonville, FL, Helen began her American Red Cross volunteer career which lasted over 40 years at NAS Jax. She established the Red Cross program at the base hospital and retired at age 88. She was honored at a prestigious annual event sponsored by Hands On Jacksonville where she received the volunteer organization's Young at Heart Award and the President's Volunteer Service Award.

Helen became an oil painter in the late 1960s and continued painting into her 90s with her daughter Eleni, her sister-in-law Mary Juel Manos, and her son-in-law Michael Gwaltney in various artists’ workshops in Myrtle Beach, SC.

Helen was famous for her white or cream-colored pantsuits and her large white framed sunglasses as well as her unique hairstyle.

Helen and her husband were featured a number of times in the National media for adopting their first two children, Roni Marie and Stephen, from Greece.

Helen is survived by her children Roni Marie (who was her devoted caregiver) (Michael) Gwaltney, Stephen Donahoe, Eleni (Lance) Levitan and Don (Jim Green) Donahoe; her grandchildren, Shawn (Aubrey) Gwaltney, Angelique “Angela” (Peter) Hayes, and Lance Levitan Jr; her great-grandchildren Abigail, Alexander and Zackery Gwaltney and Ethan and Lilyana Hayes, as well many cherished nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Commander Norman K. Donahoe, parents James and Angelina Manos, sisters Evangeline Lucy Carayiannis, Dorothy Mary Anastassiadis, brother Pete Manos, her first great-grandson, Tyler Shawn Gwaltney, nephews Roy Manos and James Carayiannis, and niece Susie Coleman.

A funeral service will be held at 1:00pm on Friday, May 30. 2025, at Jacksonville Memory Gardens Funeral Home and Cemetery.