[Music] donna saurage is a woman of integrity a tremendous sense of family and commitment and she leads by example donna siraj has always been someone that lifts other people around her and gives them the belief that they can make a difference in this world in the little town of ada oklahoma a louisiana legend was born the baby girl's parents helen and bill bright divorced when she was just an infant and donna bright as she was known then went to live with her grandparents alpha and everett porter they lived in a small shotgun house on a dirt road in the settlement of being oklahoma donna's first grade classroom was in a small schoolhouse that included all 12 grades she was an only child and she took many lessons from that experience of the hard work it takes to to to raise a family to make a dollar to to make your way the second world war was raging and donna's father served in the pacific her mother worked throughout the war in tulsa after the war she lived for a while with her father and stepmother she attended second grade in the town of coffeyville kansas by third grade she moved to dallas to live with her mother and stepfather kelly maddox and changed her name to maddox and then more moves to amarillo to lake charles and finally to baton rouge two weeks after settling in baton rouge fifteen-year-old donna met the love of her life norman saurage he was a student at university high and she was a cheerleader at baton rouge high after graduating in 1957 the couple married their 58-year marriage was filled with adventure i think people don't may not realize how adventurous she is you know i loved and lived through the many stories of her travels with norman uh absolutely adventurous they raced their catalina sailboat for 12 years and cruised the gulf coast in the classic cape dory for another 35 years my mother's very competitive uh you know i grew up in a sailing family the whole family was the crew we'd sail on a small boat and we'd race it when my mother got to be the skipper for this one race that we had each year and she won every time she entered and they loved flying both were licensed pilots donna's roles in the baton rouge community are varied from general manager of the new residence inn to creator of retail stores for community coffee she helped start a part of the company called the community coffee place and it was really the precursor to today's coffee houses it was a coffee house before there were coffee houses but closest to her heart has been her involvement with more than 50 non-profits meeting the needs of people in baton rouge and throughout the state donna really paved the way for women in my opinion not only in community but also in a professional way she got involved with boards and community activities back when maybe women's voices weren't heard so much she is a woman who leads by action not just words she believes in everything that she does and she stays the course to reach whatever the stated goals are when donna's husband norman became ill she took a leadership role in the family business she is the sole manager of ccc holding the parent company of community coffee corporation i've never had a more difficult insightful director than my own mom someone who asked the right questions at the right time and without regard to who i am as her son but only for the interest of helping everyone in that room get a better perspective of what we can do together donna's greatest joys are her family friends and her faith the surajas raised a bic family five caring faith-filled and community-minded children with 13 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren my father and mother loved to be surrounded by me and my siblings all the children at the kitchen table i think the joy it really gives her to have a large family and uh to serve them and to listen to them and to enjoy watching all of us grow in a way that i believe makes her proud and reflects her values after 67 years in baton rouge donna says she is grateful for the opportunities and privileges she has experienced in this welcoming community it's been a long journey from a shotgun house on a dirt road to creating an enduring legacy of continually pushing the boundaries of excellence i don't think i've ever met anybody as kind as my mom and uh and i say that not only as one of her children but just to to hear others speak of what she has done things that that i never knew where she uh really gave just her heart to other people and try to make a difference his community [Music]