Rfalconcam Forum

I'm very sad to announce that our dear friend Donna passed away in her sleep last night. Please keep her daughter and son in your thoughts as they just lost their father a few short months ago as well. Fly free with Ed my friend! Love you!  :crying:  <3

WHAT???? I'm speechless..

OMG I am in tears reading this. She was so happy to moving out near her granddaughter. Keeping her family in my prayers.

Oh my God, MAK, this is a shock. Donna was so full of life, laughter and love. And I think she gets the prize for having made the most contributions to this website. She was the first person to reach out on the chat stream to welcome me and answer any questions I had, well before I met any of the Rochester watchers in person. Fly free, djweeds. Love and sympathy to her family. :crying: :crying: :crying:

RIP Donna. You have joined your beloved husband and father. Fly Free my friend. You will be truly missed.

 :(

No not Donna...  :o  :crying: :crying::sorrow:

OMG!  I’m absolutely stunned and speechless!  This makes me so sad as she’s been through so much and was so looking forward to relocating to Spokane, to be with her family out there...how she loved her granddaughter!  My condolences to her family. Fly free and RIP, Donna.  :( :crying: :sorrow:

What a shock this is and she was just days away from being with her grand-daughter too.  I am so sorry for her family and her friends  :'( :'( :'( 

Have not been here for quite a while - long stories, and certainly of no interest to anyone! But I had to come back on today as I try to come to terms with the loss of Donna. Her life was thrown into so much turmoil with the very recent loss of her beloved Ed, and everything hinged on leaving for Spokane and her treasure of a grand-daughter, Olivia. Thru Donna on FB, we have watched the little girl grow and thrive and get ready for the arrival of Granny and Auntie Kara. How this can be now, I cannot imagine. We have loved you, DG! And I for one will miss your dearly - esp our chats whenever I was home in ROC. Vaya con dios, amiga! XXXXX

Ed and so many of our dear falcons, greeted our precious Donna today.   :crying:  This is heartbreaking. So close to being with her grandbaby.  Donna's heart and soul was with her family and nature.  We have truly lost one of the finest human beings.

I am so shocked and saddened to hear of Donna's passing. My thoughts and prayers are with her children and Olivia. I can't help but picture Donna reunited not only with Ed, but also with all of our beloved Peregrine Falcons who went before her, and were such a huge part of her life. Fly free, Donna. You know longer have to be Miss-n-Kaver.  :'( :heart:

I am so sorry to hear this.  I will be praying for Donna and her family.  Such a loss.  :kleenex:

We never met, but we private messaged several times about falcons and computers.  Truly a fine person and a very sad loss for the group.   :( :'(

 :crying: So sorry to hear this news.  Hugs and prayers to her family.  We will miss all her posts on this forum.  Fly with the falcons!!

Donna, nooooo I am devastated to hear this awful news. She was so involved with our falcons and I could never believe all the time she put in watching the cams and posting. Although we have never met in person, she always helped me post my holiday falcon cards. I am trying to work through her passing by thinking of her uniting with Ed and the falcons who did not make it, especially Kaver. Sincere wishes to her family.

Dot in PA

I let Dan know the sad news about Donna. He sends his condolences to Donna's family.

Donna’s obituary   :heart:

https://normandean.com/tribute/details/3560/Donna-Cook/obituary.html

Once again we must say goodbye to a valued member of our Rfalconcam community. It's never easy, and that goes doubly so for Donna.

Donna had been following the Rochester falcons for many years and was an active participant in social media going all the way back to the Birdcam days when Mariah and Kaver nested on the Kodak Tower. She was a prolific poster to the Rfalconcam Forum with over 25,000 posts and starting more then 4,000 discussion topics ranging from informative nature stories to custom created birthday cards. In addition, each year during the holiday season she encouraged members to share online greeting cards and collected them in a gallery.

Although she resided in New Jersey, she made numerous trips to Rochester to see our falcons and take part in the annual fledge watch much to the delight of the locals.

Donna also worked behind the scenes at Rfalconcam. She was one of the administrators of Rfalconcam's Facebook page, posting photos several times a day and replying to comments from thousands of followers. She also tweeted on occasion as Rfalconcam on Twitter. And her "behind the scenes" contribution did not stop there. For many years, Donna took part in Banding Day as a moderator who posted banding information and answered questions in real time on the Forum and Facebook. Sadly, this year she was not able to participate due to passing of her beloved husband Ed just a few days earlier.

And if that weren't enough uncredited work, Donna also doubled as a part-time camera operator of Camera 1 to help us keep an eye on the falcons throughout the year. For her outstanding service to the Rfalconcam community, Donna was given the honor of naming an eyas Charlotte in 2017.

After Ed's death, Donna became more focused on family and planned to move to Spokane to be closer to her young granddaughter. Despite the rigors of moving, she still remained active on Rfalconcam.

If I had to summarize Donna's presence in Rfalconcam, I'd put it this way:

   If our falcon watchers are the heart of Rfalconcam,
   and if that weirdo in the bathrobe with his crayons is the brains of Rfalconcam,
   then Donna was the voice of Rfalconcam (or at least a huge part of it).

Now that voice is greatly diminished.

And the silence is deafening.
 
Miss you, Donna. Fly free.

Dang it...made me start crying again... :crying:

 25,000 :clap:'s     :rose:   Nice write up Shaky!  Donna was all that and a bag of chips!  :heart:  Love her lots!   We all are forever changed for having known her! :crying:

Very well said Shaky.

Shaky, thank you for a very beautiful farewell to Donna. The silence really is deafening.

Dot in PA

That is beautiful.  Thank you, Shaky