December 11 1925 November 29 2022
Felicie Donnard, who survived the wartime occupation of her village in France to live a long and happy life in the United States, died peacefully in her sleep on Nov. 29. She would have turned 97 on Dec. 11. Born Felicie LeGoff in a thatched roof farmhouse in Roudouallec, a village in Brittany, northwest France, she was the daughter of Marie and Jean LeGoff, a dairy farmer. The region and the village were occupied by German troops for four years during World War II. Mrs. Donnard met her future husband, Louis Donnard, at a dance in a nearby town after the war. They were married in 1950 and emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. The couple lived and raised their two children Lillian and Remy in Elmhurst, Queens. Mrs. Donnard worked as a housekeeper while her husband was employed as a cook and chef in hotels and country clubs. The couple worked hard but also enjoyed outings with relatives and friends, many of them also immigrants from Brittany. For many years, the Donnards attended the formal banquets of New York culinary associations. They also traveled extensively on vacations to tropical destinations and were later able to purchase a modest home in Fort Myers, Florida. Mrs. Donnard and her husband established a weekend and, later, fulltime residence in Kresgeville, Pa., a rural town in Monroe County. There for many years they enjoyed gardening, entertaining friends and relatives, and a country life that reminded them of their youth in Brittany. The couple retired to the senior community of Homewood at Plum Creek in Hanover, Pa. Mr. Donnard died in 2009. Mrs. Donnard lived the last two years of her life at her daughter’s home in Baltimore. She is survived by her daughter, Lillian Donnard, and her husband, Dan Rodricks, and her son, Remy Donnard, and his wife, Doreeen, of Butler, N.J.; three grandsons, Nicholas Rodricks, Remy Donnard Jr. and Justin Donnard; and, as she would say “my only granddaughter,” Julia Rodricks; two great-grandsons; devoted nephew Rene Donnard and nieces Peggy Donnard and Vivienne Ganter. Friends may call at Mitchell-Wiedefeld Funeral Home on Monday, December 5th from 2 to 4 pm and 6 to 8 pm with a prayer service at 7 pm. Interment is private.
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Felicie Donnard December 11 1925 November 29 2022.
Mitchell Wiedefeld Funeral Home
Death notice for the town of: Baltimore, state: Maryland