Donna Ruscher Obituary

Donna Ruscher, CNM/ARNP, Eugene, Oregon 

Donna Marie Ruscher (née) McLean, (December 26, 1955-January 9, 2025). Donna was born on a US military base on Okinawa to Donald McLean and her mother Mary Lou Wharton. She travelled where her dad’s post took them, to Japan, Germany, West Point, and Staten Island. While in New York, the family settled among relatives in Otisville. She is survived by her siblings, Lorelei, Donald, and Mary, and predeceased by her mother (Mary Lou Walker), father, and step-father, John “Sug” Walker, and one child, Kevin. She passed away peacefully in her sleep surrounded by many family members.

She married Paul Ruscher of Katonah and Greenville (in Orange County), New York in 1975 at historic 18th Century Fort Van Tuyl, and ventured across New York, California, Oregon, Nebraska, and Texas over their 52 years together.

Donna started an innovative and successful international mail order business supporting midwives and safe home birth, and became a midwife herself and nurse-practitioner, delivering over 4,000 babies at homes and hospitals over a 33-year career, earning an AS in Nursing from Tallahassee State College, BS from Thomas University, Masters of Midwifery from Philadelphia University, and Graduate Certificate/CNM-ARNP from Baylor College of Medicine. She practiced alongside other nurse-midwives in Tallahassee, principally with the highly regarded Dr. Alexander Brickler, MD. She mentored many medical residents and midwives-in-training. Along the way she & Paul had 11 children, 5 of them adopted, and also fostered several kids through infancy and early adolescence. She was an exceptional quilter and needle worker. She is survived by her husband and children Kim, Adam, Teresa, Niyyah, Amy, Jay, Brian, Michael, Em, and Alexa, and collectively, 14 grandchildren (so far).

There is no service scheduled at this time, and in lieu of flowers, the family asks for donations to be made in her honor to Food for Lane County (https://www.foodforlanecounty.org), Quilts of Valor (https://www.qovf.org/), or The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp (https://www.holeinthewallgang.org/m/).

A future event may be announced, and prospective participants (virtually or in person) may sign up for notifications here (tinyurl.com/DonnaRuscher).