Yolanda Ladonna Donnelly

Nashville Recovery

Community, Dies

Yolanda “Yo” Donnelly, long known for her work in the Nashville recovery community, died Saturday evening, August 7, at a nursing home in Fort Worth, Texas, of natural causes. She was 86.

Yo was a leader and mentor in the Al-Anon and Alateen communities here for decades before her move to Texas, where she lived at St. Francis Village in Crowley.

“The influence she and her husband Frank had on the extended recovery community in Middle Tennessee and elsewhere is incalculable,” said her longtime friend, author Rob Simbeck. “Hundreds of people were recipients of their love and kindness in their home and in the community, and thousands heard them speak in meetings. They were at the hub of a large circle of recovery.”

“Yo was an extraordinary woman,” added longtime friend Tabitha Daly, former executive director of Leadership Music. “Countless women in the Nashville community benefitted from her help. She was always willing and eager to share her experience of love and hope with others. Her door was always open.”

Born on her family’s farm outside Maud, Oklahoma, on January 24, 1935, she was the daughter of Alfred and Bessie Allen Baylis. She attended Stonewall High School and was married to Dibrell Philips, with whom she had two children, Dibrell and Dana. She was a legal secretary before marrying Frank in Kansas City, and they lived in Houston before moving to Nashville in 1976.

She is survived by her children, by stepchildren Sandra and Barbara Donnelly, by her step-granddaughter Jess Scott, and by a host of friends.

She will be buried next to her husband Frank in the Middle Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery, 7931 McCrory Lane, Nashville, TN 37221. A graveside service will be held at 9 a.m. Thursday, August 12. Arrangements are being handled by the Marshall Donnelly Combs Funeral Home, 201 25th Avenue North, Nashville. Memorial contributions can be made to St. Anne’s Catholic Church in Nashville.