by Gretchen Wing

There wasn’t a term for Attention Deficit Disorder back in the 1950s when Donna Ince tried college. But that didn’t keep her from nearly flunking out her first semester. Somehow she just couldn’t focus.

Family responsibility is a powerful motivator, however. Raised in Herkimer, in upstate New York, Donna was the first grandchild, and the first family member to enter college.

“I’ve got all these aunts and uncles, grandparents on both sides, who think I’m God’s gift,” she says, “so I felt that I must not disappoint.”

With determination, Donna managed to graduate from Eastern University in Pennsylvania. But entering Cornell nursing school, more from duty than desire, Donna found herself distracted by the lures of New York City. She was also dismayed by the narrowness of nursing school, with scripted answers to questions like, “Nurse, am I going to die?”

Donna realized then, “I was in the wrong profession.”

Longing simply “to learn things,” Donna talked her family into letting her drop nursing, and supporting her while she acquired her teaching credential at Cortland State. Donna knew she could not focus academically while working.

She shakes her head: “I have a lot of feeling for kids whose parents say, ‘You must work your way through,’ and I know certain ones cannot.”

In 1962, despite recruitment from a regular public school, Donna felt drawn to teach emotionally disturbed adolescents: “I had a lot of empathy when I saw what was happening to some kids.”

The Devereux Foundation hired Donna at its residential school in Pennsylvania, giving her the opportunity to put that empathy to use.

Devereux also gave her – eventually – a husband, David, who taught sociology and physical education.

Fun fact: one Devereux student, “Mike” Stallone, later began using his real name, Sylvester.

“He asked my husband, ‘Do you think I ought to go in the service, or be an actor?’” she recalls.

David advised him to go into the military. Hollywood executives may thank their stars that “Mike” did not follow David’s advice.

For three years, Donna taught everything from reading to biology to study skills. After marrying, the couple decided to move to California, along with David’s family. Then babies began arriving, so while David taught learning disabled students in Garden Grove, Donna stayed home in Capistrano Beach, caring for their two sons and two daughters.

After 13 years, the family needed more income, so Donna went to graduate school. With undergraduate coursework to complete, and four kids at home, it took seven years, but Donna earned her Masters in speech and communication.

“I found there – ah, it was like heaven – the neuroscience. It was the piece that was missing.”

“I was always drawn to those struggling kids,” Donna says, and as a speech and language specialist with a special education credential for communicative disorders, Donna was now fully equipped to unlock their difficulties.

Struggling kids often grow into struggling adults, and Donna helped both. From 1987- 1997, while running an afternoon learning center for high school students making up failed subjects, she also helped adults getting their high school diploma or GED. Donna worked with both individuals and groups.  Her speech and pronunciation class combined advanced English as a second language students with severely disabled high school kids: “a very interesting combo,” she comments.

Donna’s influence extended beyond the classroom. While teaching during the day, Donna ran an evening tutoring business at home. And in the final five years of her career, she joined a team to advise the district on reading practices. They researched, trained teachers, and wrote curriculum, all aimed at easing the path of learning for those who struggle.

When the Inces retired in 2002, they looked for somewhere with more seasons than southern California. Lifelong outdoorsians, they had learned about the San Juans through a sea kayaker friend, and felt at home on Lopez. They immediately started a garden, and Donna joined the Whiskey Hill Community Board. She also discovered the Creaky Yoga class at Grace Lutheran. And the yoga community discovered Donna.

Asked to teach a class, Donna said “No,” despite having practiced yoga for over 17 years. But finally the classes got so large, her sense of responsibility kicked in.

“I wanted to be with these people. I mean, I’m one of them…They are the greatest bunch of elders you have ever met…just incredible people, all of them,” she says.

Now, she not only teaches two classes per week, Donna also drives some members to classes.

Donna’s five grandchildren provide more outlets for her teaching zeal. She recently re-read “The Catcher in the Rye” to help her grandson with the book.

Where other retirees use their freedom to travel, Donna feels “too rooted” to go far. But those roots support a person who continues to find ways to support others.

“Somehow,” Donna says, “I keep reaching out to someone who wants to be taught something.”