Donna Beaumont Atwater died peacefully on March 28, 2024 at The Admiral at the Lake, Chicago IL, aged 95.  She will be remembered for her style, beauty, dry wit, love of the theater, and her kind heart which extended well beyond her immediate friends and family.

She was born on June 25,1928 in Milwaukee WI to Grace Collins Beaumont and James William "Bill" Beaumont and grew up in Appleton, WI.  She studied ballet with the Beverly Breinig School of the Dance and danced with the Appleton Civic Ballet.  Her talent led to a professional dance career in New York City, where she studied at the School of American Ballet and lived at the Barbizon Hotel in its heyday.   She appeared on Broadway throughout the 1950s in Showboat and Where's Charley among others, in national touring companies such as Wonderful Town, and appeared in the film version of Where's Charley.

She was first married to actor Zachary A. Charles in 1949.  She married business executive A.G. Cox Atwater in 1958, resigning at that time from what would be her last dancing role in the touring company of My Fair Lady.  She made Chicago her home for the rest of her adult life.

Donna was a president and a longtime member of the Sarah Siddons Society, a Chicago theatrical society which provides undergraduate scholarships to promising theater students at Chicago area universities.  She was named a Founding Chairperson in honor of her contributions to the organization.  She was a volunteer for 35 years at Passavant and Northwestern Memorial Hospitals.

She became a travel advisor after her divorce in 1965 and traveled the world with friends and clients.  She especially loved safaris to Africa and theater trips to London and New York.

Donna was predeceased by her parents, her five siblings and their spouses, including her twin brother, Denis (Barbara), sister Doris Howe (Robert), brothers Martin (Carol), Guy (Eve), and Alan (Jean), and a stepdaughter, Claire Atwater Stuart.   She is survived by stepsons, A.G. Atwater, Jr., and Bert Atwater, and many nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on April 20, 2024 at 2:00 pm in The Gathering Room at The Admiral at the Lake, 929 W. Foster Ave.  A private interment will be at Graceland Cemetery, Chicago.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Sarah Siddons Society.