Donna MacKenzie Renard

Donna MacKenzie Renard, 91, of Charlottesville, Virginia, passed away on August 7, 2026, following a remarkable life defined by family, love, laughter, resilience, and a lifelong connection to the United States Navy.

Donna was born on July 20, 1935, in New London, Connecticut, to George Kenneth MacKenzie and Josephine Moore MacKenzie. The Navy was woven into Donna’s life almost from the beginning. Her father, Ken MacKenzie, was a 1936 graduate of the United States Naval Academy and a submarine officer. Donna experienced profound loss at a young age, losing both of her parents early – her father during WWII and her mother, soon after to illness.

Following their deaths, Donna was welcomed into the loving home and family of her parents’ best friends, Rear Admiral Charles H. Andrews, USN Retired, and Eleanor Andrews, and their four children. The Andrews family became Donna’s family in every way that mattered, a bond that endured throughout her life and demonstrated something Donna understands deeply: family is created not only by blood, but also by love.

Donna graduated Connecticut College in New London, CT in 1957, and meeting a young Navy lieutenant just finishing Sub School. On November 1, 1957, she married Captain John “Jack” W. Renard, USN Retired. Their marriage lasted more than 67 years and continued Donna’s life in the Navy. The daughter of a Naval officer became the wife of one, embracing nearly 30 years as a Navy spouse while she and Jack raised their family.

In a particularly meaningful connection to her family’s Naval history, Donna, at age 9, was the sponsor of the USS George K. MacKenzie (DD-836) christened in 1945 – named in honor of her father, a WWII Naval hero killed in action as the Commander of the USS Triton (SS-201). Donna was also present at the ship’s decommissioning ceremony in 1976 – a rare full-circle Navy experience of witnessing the ship’s birth into the fleet, and its final farewell.

To know Donna was to know her extraordinary memory. She could recall people, places, dates, and details with astonishing precision—and, more importantly, turn those memories into stories. She remembered who was there, what was said, what happened next, and the one detail everyone else had forgotten. Add her sharp wit and impeccable timing, and Donna could transform even the most familiar family memory into a story that left everyone laughing, no matter how many times they had heard it before.

She was the devoted mother of Kathryn “Kitt” Renard Murphy; LtCol John MacKenzie Renard, USAF Retired, (Kathy Howland Renard); and Josephine “Josie” Renard Barondess (David Barondess). Her family grew to include seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, each becoming another chapter in the family story that meant so much to her.

Donna was predeceased by her beloved husband, Jack.

Donna’s life began in a Navy family, and the Navy remained a thread running through all of her 91 years. But the legacy she leaves is much larger than that. It lives in the family she raised, the Navy friendships she treasured, the stories she told and the generations who will continue telling those stories.

Donna will be entombed, with her husband, Jack, at the United States Naval Academy Columbarium in Annapolis, Maryland after a private family service.