On Thursday, June 19th, 2025, Donna Ruth Pierce (MacLeod) of Montague, PEI passed away at the age of 88 at St. Joseph’s Auxiliary Hospital in Edmonton.
Donna Ruth MacLeod (BEd, MA) was born on April 12, 1937, in Charlottetown, PEI to John Dan and Ruth (Vickers) MacLeod. Raised in Montague, she finished high school early and then earned a teaching diploma from Prince of Wales College. After teaching back in Montague, she attended The University of New Brunswick, Dalhousie University, and The University of Alberta… receiving multiple degrees.
William Pierce and Donna were married in 1967, a honeymoon in Montreal during Expo67 followed and then travelling through Europe before teaching in Tanzania for two years. They returned to Canada, moving to Vancouver where Bill earned his Master’s in Education at UBC. They then moved to Alberta where they both taught. Donna at Seba Beach School for over 20 years.
Health issues moved Donna to St. Josephs Auxiliary for about 7 years before her passing. She was not able to visit Prince Edward Island, which she loved so much, since moving to a care home but she missed her friends and family there very much. Donna was predeceased by her loving husband Bill and sister Maxine MacPherson. She will be dearly missed by son Matthew (Pamela) as well as her friends and staff at St Josephs, former colleagues, family, and friends.
Thank you to friends and family that called or visited her during her time at St. Josephs, Dr. Chiu, and the staff there that also looked after William in his final days, as well as “gram” Mrs. Mary Pierce years prior. A service will be held in Montague next year.
My name is Les Wittenberg, Seba Beach 1979 Graduation Class and student of Mrs. Pierce.
I retired one month ago and one of the first things I wanted to do was to thank those special Seba Beach teaches that meant so much to my education / career / success. Mrs. Pierce is on the top of this list.
Throughout high school, Mrs. Pierce supported those students that had the dream of attending university. She supported us with our applications to the U of A and once accepted, she continued to support us making sure we were able to attend.
The summer, just after finishing grade 12, I was hired by Mr. Mike Greene to work on a large Seba Beach School renovation construction project. I loved construction and at this time I was debating on whether to attend university or simply go into carpentry / construction. Mike is an incredible carpenter / teacher, who I had worked previous summers for. If I was going to into carpentry I was hoping that I could be as good of carpenter as Mike.
Occasionally, over the course of this summer, Mrs. Pierce would show up at the Seba Beach school, I assume preparing for the next school year. While at the school, Mrs. Pierce would track me down, pull me away from my work and have a chat / update regarding attending the U of A in September. I think Mike was scared of Mrs. Pierce (he was just as scared of her as I was). Mike always gave me the time off to chat / check in with Mrs. Pierce, no questions asked. The rest of the construction crew had fun with this arrangement, Mike was the boss, but my real boss was Mrs. Pierce, she had other plans.
Over the course of the summer I was accepted into the U of A, once accepted at our next weekly chat Mrs. Pierce asked if I had a place to stay, while attending the U of A. Being a simple farm kid, I had no arrangements for a place to stay. A couple of days later, at our next chat, Mrs. Pierce showed up with a U of A residence application form . She had gone out of her way to pick up the U of A application form. I completed the application form and again Mrs. Pierce, going out of her way, returned the application form to the U of A. I was accepted into the U of A residence, which is where I stayed for many years while attending school. I went on to complete a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering.
Several years later, after completing university and now working in Toronto, my youngest sister’s Seba Beach graduation was approaching. Without anyone knowing, I wanted to surprise my sister and the rest of my family and fly out for her graduation, . I needed tickets to secretly attend the graduation ceremony, but how was I going to get tickets and at the same time keep this as a surprise. Mrs. Pierce was the first person I thought of. What other teacher would break the rules and push boundaries. My girl fiend ( U of A student and future wife) contacted Mrs. Pierce with our request, Mrs. Pierce loved the idea and provided us with a pair of graduation tickets and everything else we needed to pull off the surprise. The surprise was a success.
After completing my Master’s degree I went on to a successful career in the consulting engineering industry, working across North America, with some of the largest engineering firms in the industry. I owe much of this success to Mrs. Pierce.
I am very fortunate to have known Mrs. Pierce, to be a student of hers and to have been supported by her.
Mrs. Piece was more than a teacher.
Thank you Mrs. Pierce – Grade A+.