Susan Ann Donegan

Susan Ann Donegan, aged 73, died on 11 May 2026 in Central Oregon of complications from pancreatic cancer, surrounded by her family. She was born in Dayton, Ohio, on 27 August 1952, to Patricia Ann Freese and Donald Edgar Donegan. She grew up on Feldman Ave, in Dayton, the eldest of 11 cousins, all living and playing on that one street.

Susan graduated from Fairmont East High School in Kettering, earned a B.S. in Foreign Language Education from Ohio State University, followed by an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University after moving to Southern California with her first husband, Jeffrey Whiting, in 1975.

Submitted photo

Susan Ann Donegan August 27, 1952 – May 11, 2026

She became the first woman stockbroker in Pasadena, CA. After a career in Finance with Pacific Mutual Investment Company, Morgan Stanley, and Wells Fargo, she turned her passion for travel into a thriving business and opened Business or Pleasure Travel Consulting, a travel agency and bookstore in San Anselmo, California, in 1989, where she was living with her second husband, Jack Anderson, and their two children.

Her travel career continued until retirement in 2014, with stints at Rocky Mountaineer Railroad, the Auto Club of Southern California, and as Vice President with Trafalgar Tours. Anticipating retirement, she moved to Waitsburg, WA, outside of Walla Walla, purchased and renovated a dilapidated 1885 folk Victorian house, and built a small orchard, vegetable, and rose garden in the town she grew to love. Susan published her first family history book in Waitsburg, documenting her maternal Irish ancestors. She was on the Board of Directors of the Waitsburg Historical Society and the Rural Youth Enrichment.

In 2023, she moved to Bend, Oregon, to be close to her daughter, and then met the love of her life. Susan is survived by her son, E. Scott Anderson and grandson, Jason Anderson, of San Anselmo Calif.; her daughter, Emma S. Anderson and son-in-law, Eric Bomblatus, of Bend Oregon; her late-in-life partner, Dwight J. Hardin of Sisters Oregon; and sister Patti K. Witt, brother D. Scott Donegan and sister-in-law Susan Latsko Donegan, two nieces and two nephews and several grand-nieces and several great-nephews. She was blessed with life-long friends, her Waitsburg community, and the new friends who welcomed her to Sisters.