Donna Vincenti

Donna Jean (Smith) Vincenti, 85, born April 8, 1941, in Odgen, Utah, to Russell Atkinson Smith and Afton Louise Terry Smith, died August 8, 2026, in the Paradise Creek nursing facility in Moscow, Idaho, from an aggressive, fast-moving cancer.

She grew up in Utah and graduated from East High School in Salt Lake City in 1959. She acted in many theatrical productions from a young age, an interest that led her to a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater from the University of Utah in 1963. She went on to pursue a Master of Arts degree from the University of Minnesota, which she completed in December 1968. Through her participation in the University Theatre there, she acted in performances on the Minnesota Centennial Showboat.

Donna had a longtime relationship with Alfred Allen beginning in the 1969 in San Francisco, where she was working in a public library. They married in 1986 and eventually moved from San Francisco to Napa, California, where Donna worked as a reference librarian in the public library for many years. She and Alfred later divorced. She married Sheldon Vincenti in 1997 and moved to a house in an idyllic setting on West Twin Road in Moscow, Idaho. Shortly before Sheldon died in 2010, they moved to a twin home at Fairview Village Estates in Moscow. In her later years Donna was a member of the Paradise writers’ group and the Red Hat Society.

Donna was a consummate wordsmith, and her ability to notice the details of the world, both sublime and painful, made her a talented writer. She wrote both short prose pieces and poetry, and although formal publication wasn’t her overriding goal, she had a poem published in the Trestle Creek Review in 2006, and another in Avocet: A Journal of Nature Poems in 2007. Her whimsical creativity came through in all she wrote, including in the names of characters in her poems and stories, such as the cat names “Tom-Tom Tickletummy” and “Algernon Paddypaws.”

Books of all kinds, particularly literary and not-so-literary fiction, mysteries, biographies, and philosophy, were a constant pleasure for Donna throughout her life. Her sensitivity could sometimes prove challenging to her, and books provided a welcome retreat from the world. Her gift for words also made her a formidable Scrabble player.

Donna loved cats, plain and simple. She was the caring guardian of many cats throughout her adult life, including Pye and Jo (a pair of Siamese cats), Pippin, Toby, Sheba, Kootenai, Tiberius, Lucky, Smoky Jo, and many more. They were her children, as she never had any of the traditional kind. It seems appropriate that August 8, the day she passed on to meet them again, was International Cat Day.

All who knew her will greatly miss this gentle soul whose delights included flowers (both wildflowers and those she artfully arranged in pots); small glass ornaments that sparkled in sunny windows; a venerable piano on which she played “easy classics”; colorful dangly bracelets; and clouds in all their endless varieties and moods. We are grateful for the light she brought to our lives.

Donna was preceded in death by her second husband, Sheldon Vincenti; her sister, Marcia Anderton; and her niece Nola Anderton. She is survived by her niece Laurel Anderton; her first husband, Alfred Allen; Sheldon’s daughter Amanda Vincenti and family; and Sheldon’s son Matt Vincenti and family.

No service is scheduled at this time, but anyone wishing to honor Donna’s memory is encouraged to donate to the Humane Society of the Palouse.