Mary-Ellen Donovan

Mary-Ellen Donovan, age 73, of Lancaster, Ohio entered eternal life on Wednesday, February 5, 2025. She was born on March 6, 1951, in Cleveland, Ohio, the only child of the late George Edwin Kronbach and Ruth Blair Kronbach. She was preceded in death by her husband, Thomas Donovan, the love of her life. They shared 36 adventurous years together. Mary-Ellen attended school in Kenston School District in Bainbridge Township Ohio, where she was very active in student body leadership and played kettle drums in the marching band. She attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington, KY and Roger Williams University in Bristol, RI, earning a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religion. Mary-Ellen was extremely well-read, very articulate, and was very interested in history and the arts. She was a volunteer Docent at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio in Lancaster. Mary-Ellen worked in advertising and marketing her whole life, retiring in 2007. She was an expert in her field, well known and respected especially as Director of Marketing for Telesis in Circleville, OH. Together with her esteemed and trusted work team, she organized and attended numerous trade shows promoting laser-marking systems for the company. She was extremely particular about every detail in the trade show booths and would stand her ground to make sure everything was in order. She wrote and published marketing brochures, articles, and videos, with all efforts leading to increased sales of the systems in the USA and abroad. Mary-Ellen was known in and outside of the industry as a “force to be reckoned with”. Along with her high-energy work ethic, Mary-Ellen was also very creative, artistic and extremely detail-oriented. She was known as someone who would complete tasks and always get things done with that “flair”, which was a signature for her. Her favorite color was red, and she was always immaculate and very well put-together, with a pop of “red” somewhere in her classy attire. In her professional and personal life, Mary-Ellen was known as fun, witty, and very clever. She was a very spiritual and faith-filled person who enjoyed singing with the church choir, led by Kantor Kelly Raybourne at Emanuel Lutheran Church in Lancaster and had many great friendships in her church family there. She always spoke fondly of her friend and mentor Rev. Mark Raddatz, who lovingly referred to her as a “whippersnapper”. During her personal time, Mary-Ellen enjoyed playing piano and organ. Her creative outlet was found in writing. She wrote and published 3 books under the pen name, “Elyn Donovan”, starting with “Disconnected” in 2014; Mom’s Story in 2015, based on her beloved Mother-In-Law; and O’Rourke’s, published in 2016. She had other writings in process at the time of her death. By far, Mary-Ellen’s passion was the love of horses. She and Tom shared this common passion and traveled extensively to attend many Thoroughbred Horse races. Together they owned several horses, including their beloved “Spiffy”, and they always shared many stories about attending the Kentucky Derby. When the movie “Seabiscuit” was being made, Tom and Mary-Ellen had a great time being movie extras in the film. Mary-Ellen is survived by Tom’s children, Cynthia (Douglas) Westfall; Robert Brian Donovan; Brenda (Ned) Melvin and Gregory (Jacqueline) Donovan, eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren. She leaves behind many cherished friends whose lives she touched with her dynamic personality.

A funeral service will take place on Saturday, February 15, 2025, at 10:00 am with viewing one hour prior to the start of the service at Emanuel Lutheran Church, 231 East Mulberry St, Lancaster. Burial will follow the service at Floral Hills Memory Gardens, Lancaster.