Ellen E. Donnelly

May 6, 1935 - February 3, 2021

Ellen passed away peacefully on February 3rd at the age of 85 in Burlingame, CA.

Ellen was born in Roscommon, Ireland on May 6, 1935 to John and Marie O’Mahony. She was the second of five children. In 1952, she began her training to be a nurse at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin, Ireland. In 1957, she started her training to be a surgical nurse at Charing Cross, London, UK and became a mid-wife at the Lewisham Hospital in London. During her tenure in London, she rode her bicycle around the city delivering over 300 babies.

In 1959, Ellen bravely moved to San Francisco, where she only knew one person, her uncle, Monsignor Browne at the Church of the Assumption in San Leandro, CA. Once there, she joined the surgical nursing staff at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), where she was the first foreign trained nurse in the Operating Room. In 1966, she met her future husband, David C. Donnelly, on a blind date. In 1967, David and Ellen were married at the Church of the Assumption by Ellen’s uncle, they moved to San Bruno, CA and raised two beautiful daughters, Erin and Dara. She continued her career as a surgical nurse, specializing in kidney transplants and orthopedic surgery, at UCSF until 1977 before moving to Davies Medical Center (California Pacific Medical Center). In her free time, she liked to travel and spend summers at her house in Kings Beach, CA and sit on the beach at Sand Harbor on Lake Tahoe. After retiring from nursing in 2000, she proudly volunteered at the San Bruno Senior Center and helped raise her two grandchildren, Cole and Lauren.

Ellen was a dedicated parishioner at St. Robert’s church in San Bruno for 48 years, until she and David moved to Sterling Court in San Mateo in 2016, where she attended St. Catherine’s church.

She is survived by her husband, David, her daughter, Erin and, son-inlaw, Scott (Los Altos, CA) and her daughter, Dara (San Antonio, TX). She is also survived by her two grandchildren, Cole and Lauren (Los Altos) and her siblings in Ireland and the UK, Elizabeth Flynn, Marie Hanley, Joseph O’Mahony (and his wife, Irene), and Jill Davidson and numerous nieces and nephews.

Her family is grateful for care and support provided by Latu Koloamatangi in the past two years.

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a private service held for the family at Chapel of the Highlands, and a mass will be held at St. Robert’s in her name. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to either Pacific Quest at www.pqfoundation.org, an organization dedicated to improving the mental wellness of youths, or MillsPeninsula Hospital Foundation for their Behavioral Health Services dedicated to addressing mental health issues.