Donna Kay Howard

Donna Kay (Ashby) Howard of Posey, California, passed away on July 30, 2026, after an incredibly courageous fight with multiple myeloma. She fought with strength, determination, humor, and an unwavering faith in God. Cancer may have ultimately taken her life, but it never took the love, laughter, or light that made Donna who she was.

Donna was born in Mesa, Arizona, to Riley and Faye Ashby and grew up in Shafter, California. She graduated from Shafter High School in 1972. During her senior year of high school, a trip to Pismo Beach would change the course of her life when she met Keith Howard. The two went on to build a life and family together and were married for 47 years.

Donna spent many years working at Bank of America before finding a career she truly loved at Wasco State Prison. She was proud of the work she did there and spoke often of the people she worked alongside and the relationships she built throughout her years of service. She also spent many years as the neighborhood Avon lady, a role that perfectly suited her outgoing personality. She loved visiting with people, catching up on life, and never met a stranger.

While she found fulfillment in each of her careers, no title ever meant more to her than Mom and Nonnie.

As a mother, Donna was all in. She was the mom who showed up again and again. She volunteered in classrooms, chaperoned field trips, advised cheerleading, and found countless ways to be involved in the lives of her children and their friends. Over the years, she became a second mom to so many. Her home, her heart, and her life always seemed to have room for one more.

Then she became Nonnie. Her grandchildren, her “angel babies”, were her world. She loved them fiercely, proudly, and as she always said, “to infinity and beyond.”

Donna was crazy, funny, generous, and unapologetically herself. Her smile could light up a room, her laughter was impossible to miss, and there was very little she wouldn’t do for someone she loved, or even someone who simply needed her. The outpouring of stories and messages since her passing has only confirmed what her family has always known: Donna made a profound impact on the people around her.

She absolutely loved Disneyland, shopping, traveling, her Tropical Red Bull, and, more than anything, being surrounded by her family. She loved God deeply and carried an unwavering faith throughout her life, including through the hardest days of her illness.

Donna was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 47 years, Keith Howard; her mother, Faye Ashby; her brother, Mike Ashby; and her grandparents, August and Myrtle Brinsfield, Mary Soto, and Roland Ashby.

She is survived by her father, Riley; children, Shannon and her husband Chris, Shawn and his wife Kelsey, Shelby and her husband Daniel, and Levi and his wife Eden; her grandchildren, Dillon, Brooklyn, Cadence, Ava, Finley, Tavin, Lincoln, Violet, Fulton, Rowan, Reagan, Callen, Madilynn, and Flint; and numerous family members and friends who will miss her more than words can adequately express.

She loved us to infinity and beyond, and we will carry that love with us for the rest of our lives.

A celebration of Donna’s life and reception will be held September 6th at 1pm, at:

Grace Baptist Church

2550 Jewetta Ave W

Bakersfield, CA 93312

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Donna’s memory to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, supporting research and the continued fight for better treatments and a cure for multiple myeloma.