Paris, France – Emily Keast Donahue died at the age of 78 on Saturday, October 18, 2025 at the Maison Medical Jeanne Garnier in Paris, France.
Emily was born on November 25, 1946 in Chicago, Illinois, the youngest child of William Rea Keast and Mary Alice Hart Keast. When Emily was four years old, the family moved to Ithaca, New York where she graduated from Ithaca High School and received her undergraduate degree from Cornell University. She went on to earn a Master’s in Education from the University of Vermont. After graduate school, she met and married Dennis Donahue. They lived and taught at Holderness School in New Hampshire for several years before moving to Norwich, Vermont in 1985 with their three children, Christopher, Stephen, and Sara.
During her years living in Norwich, her primary focus was raising her children and she supported them at ski races, soccer games, other sporting events and musical performances. She made and sold baguettes, scones, cookies, and coffee cakes that were beloved by customers at Upper Valley farm stands and cafes. She taught French at local elementary schools, played clarinet in the Norwich Community Band, and knit intricate sweaters for family and friends. Emily was an enthusiastic runner and competed in races during the 1970s and 1980s, including several early women’s-only races.
Emily had a deep love of France, beginning with a visit to France with her family during junior high school. She studied French literature at Cornell, lived with a French family during a semester abroad, and taught English for a year after college in Fontainebleau. She studied French cooking at L’Ecole des Trois Gourmandes and treasured the memories of learning from Simone Beck. When her children had all graduated from college, she realized her life-long dream and moved to Paris, France in 2002.
In Paris, Emily formed many friendships with Parisians and expats who she met at the dog park where she brought her fox terrier, Joy. She tutored adults and children in French and English and enjoyed outings to museums and the ballet. Her neighbors and local business owners embraced her as a member of the local community.
Emily is survived by her three children, Christopher Donahue (Christine) of San Francisco, California, Stephen Donahue (Elie) of Mill Valley, California, Sara Donahue of Lebanon, New Hampshire, five grandchildren, Nora, Tommy, Rose, Chance, and Teddy, her nephew, Paul Fisher (Maryliz) of Morristown, New Jersey, her sister, Sara Fisher of Wilder, Vermont, and her brother, Stephen Keast (Gunhild Lischke) of Ithaca, New York.
There will be a private burial.
Click here to sign the guest book or honor their memory with flowers, donations, or other heartfelt tributes