Donna Louise Stevens

On August 10, 2025, Donna Louise Stevens, in the company of her bestie Cynthia Schade, was killed in a car crash on their way home from a retreat near Enchanted Rock. She is survived by sister Cathy Stevens of Berkeley, California, sisters Rita Jean, Lisa Marie, and Deb Stevens of Wichita Falls, Texas, and Joe Stevens of Austin, Texas and quite possibly thousands of people whose lives were transformed by her.

Donna burst onto this earthly plane on January 19,1959 through the portal of Wichita Falls, Texas with the assistance of her parents Frances James and Alice Marie Stevens. Life in the Stevens family was never the same. She ran away from home on her tricycle at the age of three. When her mom told her to clean her room, she barricaded her room and crawled out the window. In high school, she calmed down enough to win Miss Junior Wichita Falls. Legend has it that when another contestant got testy with Donna for hogging the bathroom, Donna punched her. Donna did not advance to the second round.

After a brief dabble in geology (no one can explain this) at Midwestern University in Wichita Falls, Donna decided she needed a vacation in Mexico. Not long after arriving, she lost her wallet, her passport, and all ID. Undeterred, she met some strangers at a bar who were sailing to Hawaii and decided, why not, she’d tag along. The yacht got caught in the doldrums, they floated for quite a bit at sea, and Donna spent a lot of that time locked in her cabin fending off unwanted advances from one of the men on the boat. Coast Guard eventually had to rescue them. Once in Hawaii, she wrote her mom: “In Hawaii. Send clothes.”

After Hawaii, Donna headed to California to the American Academy for the Dramatic Arts, then Taos, New Mexico she played the Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz, then on to Austin where she did Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Bad Girls Upset by the Truth, and her aptly named one-woman show, The Donna Show.

In the early 90s, Donna launched her career as a songwriter with The Cow Pattys—their motto was “If You Ain’t Herd Us, You Ain’t Herd Shit”—an Austin-based original a capella country and western comedy where she played Patty Lorraine LaWanda Louise Linda LaTisha LaBelle. Later, Donna had two huge YouTube hits, “If I Were Enlightened” and “Older Ladies,” which drew 18 million views, and an album “Closer to Near.”

Donna literally couldn’t stop creating. She could write a song in an afternoon and then call you to sing all the verses. Redo your wardrobe or redecorate your apartment with a couple trips to Goodwill. Make a gourmet meal out of what she found in your refrigerator. Record and send you a Talking Dog video made with a photo of your precious dog. Or 20 of them. Give you a massage. Dispense tips about diet, exercise, and health. Draw you a picture, write you a poem, make you a birthday video.

And when she wasn’t creating, she was headed somewhere—Tobago, New Zealand, Oregon, Taos, California—her sister Cathy called Donna her “gypsy sister.” Oftentimes she knew not a soul where she was going. She didn’t need to. Donna could walk into a room and by the time she left, half the people there had a new best friend and Donna had a place to stay.

Whatever the endeavor, Donna did a full-body immersion. And then she wanted to drag you along! “Hey I’m an electric bike guide. Come work with me!” “I’m pet sitting! You gotta do this!” “Eldoa has changed my life! It will change yours!” She took her electric enthusiasm to everything she did whether it was her work with Challenge Day or her bands Birdz of Play and the Texas Love Birds or being your friend. Being her friend was a life-changing experience. Ask virtually anybody who ever met her.

The last 10 or 15 years of her life, Donna began to experience a strange sensation that felt like, in her own words, she was being electrocuted. She referred to it as “the energy.” It was almost continuous and often kept her from sleeping. Conventional medicine had no remedies for her, so Donna, in her fearless way, sought healing by immersing herself in a dizzying array of spiritual modalities—Open Focus, Headless Way, Dyad Self Inquiry, for just a few. Then of course she touched the lives of countless people by sharing what she had learned with online spiritual communities and her own Facebook page.

On August 10, Donna was finally set free. She left her body and her pain behind and flew up to that big dance hall in the sky where every morning, whatever morning is in the otherworld, she is bound to be saying to the angels: “Hey, I wrote a new song. Wanna hear it?” She then sings all eight verses. Or maybe she leads an Open Focus session. Whatever it is, heaven will not be same. For sure we here on earth are not the same without her.

A Celebration of Life for Donna will be held on October 25, 2025, from 5:00 PM to 6:30 PM CT at Unity Church of Austin, 5501 W US 290, Austin, Texas 78735. A link to the live stream will be provided here soon.

But wait - there's more! The DonnaLou Stevens Sunday Potluck and Open Mic will be held the next day on October 26, 2025, from 03:00 PM to 08:30 PM at Leeann’s Hacienda (backyard venue) 3600 S. 2nd St., Austin, Texas, 78704. Please bring a dish to share and BYOB. More information and to register, please see Donna's FB page at: https://www.facebook.com/donnaloustevens