Danute (Donna) Veronika Handy

Danute (Donna) Veronika Handy (née Bajoraitis) passed away on October 21, 2023 due to complications from injuries sustained in a car accident while driving to her beloved Santa Barbara Athletic Club.

Danute was born into a modest farming family in Lithuania during the inter-war years on October 31, 1934, to Marija Bajoraitis (née Gylyte) and Ignas Bajoraitis and was the youngest of five children, three of whom survived into adulthood. Lithuania was a small country and stood between warring giants. History records WW2 as a clash of titans, but WW2 exposed Danute to horrors which shaped her life and extended into her role as a daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and friend and a political activist.

In 1944, as the Soviet army approached the border of Lithuania the Bajoraitis family decided to leave their home as they were in danger of being deported to Siberia. As one of few with access to a shortwave radio, Danute’s father, Ignas Bajoraitis, was able to follow the retreat of the German army out of Lithuania into Germany. They continually traveled west and encountered battles, minefields and bargained with fate in hopes of meeting Allied troops. They encountered Allied Troops in Tahle in the Hartz Mountains. Danute often spoke of her own mother’s heroic efforts to keep the family safe, moving and intact on their 1000 mile walk from Pakuonis, Lithuania to the Harz Mountains and Thale where they were met by American soldiers.

The Bajoraitis family was placed in a refugee camp in Uchte run by the United Nations where they lived and attended school for 4 years. In 1949 and 1950, Danute’s brother and sister, Rim and Aldona immigrated to the US and settled in Cleveland. Danute with her Mother immigrated in 1951 to the US through Ellis Island to discover that Rim had been drafted into the army and sent to Germany. They joined Aldona in Cleveland where Danute completed high school at Holy Cross High School. After high school graduation, she blazed a trail at Bowling Green College by becoming the second female to graduate with a B.S. in Accounting. Danute graduated in only 3-1/2 years in 1956. She moved back to Cleveland and became one of a very few women accountants of that era. She worked for Vita-Bath, Sherwin-Williams Paint and The Gas Machinery Company.

In 1957, while vacationing in Cape Cod, Danute met her future husband Bob, a young Navy Hospital Corpsman at a coffee shop while the two waited for their Greyhound bus rides back to their respective hometowns. Bob quickly adjusted his travel plans and “missed” his stop in New York City and continued with Danute for 12 hours to Cleveland. Danute and Bob married on March 1, 1958 and enjoyed two years of living in New York City and traveling the East Coast on a scooter.

Bob was transferred to Newfoundland, where he and Danute welcomed two children, John Handy (YuSon) and Becky Cantrell (John). At their next duty station, in Rhode Island, Danute and Bob welcomed two more children, Victoria Hyland (Bob) and Laura Wallace (Bruce). The Navy took Bob and Danute and their young family across the country multiple times and they considered many possible futures. Their final Navy duty Station was in Point Mugu, as close as they could get to their intended future in Santa Barbara.

Bob and Donna loved Santa Barbara, California, and felt that if they settled there, their children would always come back to visit. Due to the frequent moves and a growing family, Danute had put her career on hold, but once she settled into Santa Barbara she resumed her work as an accountant and auditor. She worked for several CPA firms, the County of Santa Barbara and the Santa Barbara Mental Health Association and became a Certified Public Accountant (CPA). She immersed herself into raising her son and three daughters and became very involved in Girl Scouts. To her last breath she remained a devoted and supportive mother providing support, wisdom and love to her son and daughters and extended family.

Danute’s greatest love was her family. She was an extraordinary grandmother (Ama) to her six grandchildren, Brooke and Chase Wallace, Madeline and Benjamin Handy, Danielle Hyland, and Jacob Cantrell. Ama loved each grandchild unconditionally and attended every birthday party, game, musical recital, jog-a-thon, and school fundraiser.

Danute and Bob were exceptional partners in life, as spouses, parents, in business and in politics. In their public life they maintained overlapping though distinct spheres of interests that were both mutually compatible and nourishing to the relationship. However, within the family sphere Danute was the Matriarch and she had a profound influence on each family member. She was quick to dispense advice about college, jobs, careers, politics (politics twice), matters of morality, religion or character. There was little that escaped her interest when it came to family matters.

Danute did have strongly held opinions on many political and social topics. Though willing, even eager, to debate the relative merits of her positions, very little actually moved her to reconsider deeply held beliefs. This clarity gave her a relentless passion which she advanced in partnership with her husband Bob. Though not readily apparent, Danute was the strong woman behind much of Bob’s visible activities within the Democrat Party. Among her many opinions on political and social issues, Danute’s greatest passions were women’s equality, women’s rights and access to reproductive care and freedom.

In addition to her love of family, Danute was a woman of incredible mental and physical energy. As a younger woman, she was often seen running the hills of Montecito, going to jazzercise classes, doing yoga, backpacking in the Eastern Sierra Nevadas and camping in many national parks. She took her final hiking trip just last year to Tuolumne Meadows in the Yosemite Valley. In recent years, she walked daily on Stearns Wharf and swam religiously at the Santa Barbara Athletic Club. She made countless friends while walking, swimming or backpacking and was an inspiration to many until her last days. Danute was an avid reader of history and politics and loved to write pointed, sharp and witty letters to the editor of many papers. Her letters were published in the LA Times, the Montecito Journal, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times and Time Magazine amongst many other publications. In more recent years, she loved commenting on internet newspaper articles and engaging in political banter with people from all walks of life.

Danute was predeceased by her parents Marija and Ignas Bajoraitis, her sister Aldona, her brothers Jonus and Algis, her grandson Spencer Handy and her husband Robert Handy. She is survived by her four children and their spouses, her six grandchildren and her brother Rimvydas Bajoraitis.

In memory of our beloved mother and grandmother, please remember to drive safely, but live an interesting life.

A celebration of life will be held at the Veteran’s Memorial Hall on December 10, 2023. Please contact the family at BeckyHandy@aol.com for additional details.