Donahue, Betty Lee, 85, died in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 27, 2017. She was born June 17, 1932, in Luttrell, Tennessee, the eldest daughter of Everett Lee and Bess Iona Dyer Donahue. She attended Chesney School and was a member of Warwick's Chapel Baptist Church.

The family moved to Knoxville in 1945 where she attended Christenberry Junior High School and graduated from Knoxville High School in 1950. She was a member of Broadway Baptist Church where she was very active in the youth programs. She graduated form Carson Newman College in 1954 with a BA degree in psychology and education. She was active in the drama group and was a member of the Hypatians. She received a Master's in Social Work at Carver School, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky in 1956. She was employed as Teenage Program Director at the YMCA in Knoxville. In 1962 she transferred to the Washington, DC, YMCA again working with teenagers. In 1965 she began her career with the federal government, first working in the Department of Education, adult education department, later transferring to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. In Washington she was active in The Church of the Savior and was a deacon at Riverside Baptist Church.

After her retirement in 1989 she went to Jacksonville to help care for her mother. In Jacksonville she attended Snyder Memorial Methodist Church, Arlington Congregational Church and First United Methodist. Betty was a life long Tennessee Volunteer Fan and would travel up from Jacksonville to watch the Lady Vols Basketball team. No matter where she was living she always considered Knoxville and East Tennessee home.

Betty was predeceased by her parents, her brother-in-law Lester Price Seaton of Maryville, Tennessee, and Jacksonville and her furry friends, Buddy, Skippy, Mandy, Katie and Crystal. She is survived by her sister, Lonettte Donahue Seaton, two godsons, David Arthur Corley, Jr. Washington DC and Lawnie Taylor, Jr. Germantown, Maryland, and her beloved cat Lillie. Tennessee relatives include Mickie and Jerry DeVault, and their children and grandchildren, Beth DeVault and Kris Edmondson, Tucker and Andrew Edmondson, and Laura DeVault and Chris Tolliver, Raley and Addison Tolliver and many Donahue relatives. During her 40+ years in Washington she was honored to be included in the families of Susan, Lawnie Jr. and Sara Jean Daniel, Kathy McAuliffe, and Judy Baldwin.

Betty will be inurned with her parents in the William Wallace Garden Greenwood Cemetery, Knoxville on Sunday, July 23, 2017 at 2pm. In her memory, charitable donations may be made to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, 5001 Angel Canyon Road, Kanab, UT 84741 or the E.L. Donahue Family Bluegrass, Old Time and Country Music Endowment, ETSU, University Advancement, Box 70721, Johnson City, Tennessee.