EUREKA - Phyllis Donaldson not only made a name for herself in the community of Eureka, but also at the Tobacco Valley Senior Center, where a special sign was dedicated to her.
The senior center, known for its twice-weekly dinners and social gatherings, recently hosted the special event to honor Phyllis Donaldson, who passed away in 2024.
“Phyllis, she was a board member for a very long time, and it's not that she didn't try to retire, she did, but we wouldn't let her,” Tobacco Valley Senior Center Board President JoAnn Cuffe told MTN.
Donaldson moved over a thousand miles from Las Vegas to settle in Eureka in 2005 and missed feeling needed by the community, prompting her to get involved with local organizations.
“She got involved in the church, she met friends, she got involved in the senior center, she just blossomed," Donaldson's daughter Sharon Wood said.
Watch to learn about the legacy Phyllis Donaldson left behind in Eureka:
When Donaldson passed, the center knew it wanted to do something to make sure her name was a permanent fixture of the building.
“I wanted to do something that we could see that would every time we looked at it would make us think of her and our sign was getting very decrepit, and so I thought that was a great idea," Tobacco Valley Senior Center Site Manager June Osler told MTN.
Following a long process of designing and transporting the sign, it finally arrived, and was better than anyone — especially her daughters — could have imagined.
“I thought they were just going to do a tiny little thing, I didn't realize how large it would be. And to tell you the truth, it made all four of us girls cry,” Wood said.
The ribbon was cut on August 28, surrounded by Phyllis's family, friends, and co-workers, showing just how much love she brought into the world.
“The only visible sign of her being here is her tombstone, and to see something like that is just amazing,” Wood explained.
