Former Kalispell city attorney Donahue dead at 88

Norb Donahue - who retired twice as an FBI agent and then as Kalispell's city attorney before becoming a city council member and later an outspoken local government critic - died of old age Sunday at the Brendan House. He was 88.

By JOHN STANG

The Daily Inter Lake

Norb Donahue - who retired twice as an FBI agent and then as Kalispell's city attorney before becoming a city council member and later an outspoken local government critic - died of old age Sunday at the Brendan House. He was 88.

Donahue was passionate. Opinionated. Civic-minded.

And he loved to argue - especially for what he believed in, enjoying the verbal tussles a bit on the side.

"He was not afraid to give his opinion. He always did his homework. He was not afraid to stick to his opinion even when a compromise might have been a better course," said one of his sons, Mark Donahue.

Norbert Donahue's parents moved to Montana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries before marrying in the Cut Bank area. He was born March 9, 1918, in Spokane, and grew up mostly in Montana.

After graduating from high school in Missoula County, Donahue earned a philosophy degree and a law degree at Gonzaga University. He joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1941 several months prior to Pearl Harbor.

During World War II, FBI agent Donahue worked in Washington, D.C., where he met and married his wife Ruby. He then went on to live in Jackson, Mich., Detroit and Los Angeles.

He wanted to return to Montana, and managed to get transferred to the bureau's Butte office just after World War II.

Kalispell was a frequent destination for agents in the small Butte office. In 1948, Donahue volunteered for the Kalispell office when the FBI decided to open one there. He turned down several promotions and opportunities to move elsewhere so he could stay in Kalispell.

"He always felt lucky that he made it to the Flathead Valley," Mark said.

He did background checks on people wanting to enter federal employment or the nation's then-fledgling atomic bomb program. Any felonies in Glacier National Park or at the Blackfeet and Flathead reservations were his responsibility. He was involved with investigating some Communist operations.

Donahue loved fishing and skiing.

He learned to ski because he got bored of sitting in his car when he took his sons Mark and Barry to skiing lessons. He skied frequently, sometimes three or four times a week after he retired. In fact, Donahue skied after his eyesight began to fail to the concern of almost everyone but himself.

Donahue last skied at the age of 83, spending the next couple of years hoping to ski again.

"He was a tough guy. He skied until he just couldn't," Mark said.

Donahue also loved to hike in Glacier National Park. He also frequently fished on Flathead Lake, building a cabin there with Mark and Barry in the 1950s.

He retired from the FBI in 1968 without once having to fire his revolver, and joined a local law firm. A little later, he also became the Kalispell city attorney, which was then only a part-time job. As the city grew, the city attorney's duties grew with it until Donahue moved to that post full-time. He retired as city attorney in 1982. He served on the city council from 1996 to 2000.

He was also active the Rotary Club and with the C.E. Conrad Mansion.

Donahue was a longtime observer and sometimes critic of how Kalispell and its government has evolved.

"He really was concerned with the city of Kalispell," his son said.

Donahue strongly pushed for the city to grow slowly and orderly. He wrote frequent letters to the Daily Inter Lake's editor, often saying the consequences of Kalispell's increasingly frequent annexations were not studied adequately and prepared for. He was unhappy that it was becoming increasingly difficult for nonwealthy people to afford to live in the area.

He also criticized the city manager form of government, arguing that this model is less responsive to the public than the old strong-mayor-council form.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Matthew's Catholic Church. Visitation will be held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday at the Johnson Mortuary Chapel. A Rosary will be recited at 5 p.m. Thursday at the Johnson Mortuary Chapel.

Burial will be a private one at C.E. Conrad Memorial Cemetery.