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Donna Ford Steiner, of Virginia Beach, Virginia passed away peacefully, March 29, 2025 from complications of a stroke. She was 74 and a resident of Westminster Canterbury Retirement community in Virginia Beach, where she had lived since 2021. Born in Norfolk, Virginia, on February 16, 1951, she lived in the Larchmont neighborhood, where she attended Larchmont Elementary School, Blair Jr. High School and graduated from Maury High School, Class of 1969. It was during those years Donna developed childhood and adolescent friendships which endured throughout her life.

Upon graduating from Louisburg Junior College, she embarked on a working career holding interesting and responsible jobs in administration, town planning and eventually migrating into the fashion retail industry while living in Manteo, NC. She adored having ladies come from far and wide to utilize her talent in selecting fashions, developing friendships along the way.  Donna’s natural outer beauty combined with her inner beauty made her a natural for the fashion career she enjoyed for twenty years.

When her husband, Dr. Michael Steiner went into semi-retirement in 2012, they moved to Pinehurst, NC where they lived until Dr. Steiner’s passing in 2016. Donna then decided to move back to her beloved Outer Banks to be near close friends, many of which were rooted in her love of the Lord, and to enjoy the beaches that had been a significant part of her life.

In 2021 she left the Outer Banks and moved into the Westminster Canterbury Retirement Community in Virginia Beach. She quickly became a bigger than life celebrity, ultimately becoming a Marketing Ambassador for the Community, which meant greeting prospective future residents. Soon she joined  the Welcome Team where she met weekly with new residents for luncheons. Whether it be her Mah jong group, her karaoke buddies, her Trivia teammates, Donna always brought an energetic and sunny disposition to those around her. She leaves many friends and for them, many memories.

Donna Ford Steiner was predeceased by her parents, Eva Holloway Ford and Charles Edward Ford Jr. of Norfolk, Va., her brother Charles (Chick) Edward Ford III and his wife Pam. She is survived by nephew (from a previous marriage) Steven Felton, of Rocky Mount, NC. Donna would want her closest childhood and adult friends to be in this list as well.

Memorial services will be held at Westminster Canterbury in Virginia Beach and in the Outer Banks in the near future. Dates and times will be announced shortly. Contributions in her memory can be sent to Westminster Canterbury Foundation (Marian Taylor Entertainment Fund) 3100 Shore Drive, Va.Beach, Va 2345 or Liberty Christian Fellowship, 244 Williams Drive, Kill Devil Hills, N.C. 27948 or https://libertyobx.com/give/give-online.

Special thanks to those who were able to be there for Donna during the past nine months of trying health issues and her final days … her close friend of fifty years from North Carolina, her side kick and close friend at Westminster and her dearest friends since childhood from Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Oregon and Alabama and her closest friends from the Outer Banks. She loved each of you.

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