Woman didn't let disability hold her back

Karen Donaldson started swimming as a child to regain strength in her arms. But in college the sport became a passion as well as rehabilitation, and she swam herself to the top in international competitions for the physically disabled.

Ms. Donaldson, of Kirkland, died Saturday after coming down with pneumonia. She was 58.

She swam competitively for more than a decade and won more than 20 medals in international competitions for wheelchair athletes. She participated in four Paralympics with thousands of athletes from all over the world, starting in 1968 in Tel Aviv, Israel. She was one of four people with disabilities selected to represent the United States at a Japanese competition in the early 1980s, her family said. In 1982, she was inducted into the Wheelchair Sports Hall of Fame.

An illness — which was never identified — attacked Ms. Donaldson's nervous system when she was 6, leaving her a paraplegic, said her older brother, Richard A. Gorman, of Snohomish. The family then was living in England, where Ms. Donaldson's father was stationed with the Air Force. They returned to the United States, where she received care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and swam as part of her treatment.

She attended college at Wayne State University in Detroit, where she joined the Michigan Wheelchair Athletic Association. Before her family knew it, she was traveling to national, then international events.

Her mother had been a swimmer in high school, and her family thinks perhaps that's where Ms. Donaldson got her talent. In her first Paralympic competition in Tel Aviv, she won a gold medal in the 25-meter breaststroke in her division, and silver medals in the 25-meter freestyle and 25-meter backstroke.

Her mother always insisted Ms. Donaldson not let her wheelchair hold her back. She refused to let school officials keep her daughter from attending the same high school as her brothers in the 1960s, when it was common for students in wheelchairs to go to schools for the disabled.

Ms. Donaldson had the same strong will, her brothers said. "She never viewed her wheelchair as a disability," said Michael Gorman, her younger brother, who lives in Annapolis, Md. "She took life head-on."

She often freaked people out when she'd wheel up to the pool and plop herself in, he said, "but that was my sister."

She moved to Washington in 1992 after she divorced her husband, Jack Donaldson, whom she married in college. Once here, she undertook computer training, then got a job at Boeing, where she worked in the Information Technology department.

She lived on her own, drove her own car and supported herself. She didn't even use a motorized wheelchair until a few years ago. "She would fight like nothing you've ever seen to be treated like everybody else," Michael Gorman said.

In addition to her two brothers, Ms. Donaldson is survived by her father, Richard L. Gorman of Annapolis.

Services have been held. Remembrances can be sent to Summit Assistance Dogs, 7575 Chestnut Lane, Anacortes, WA 98221.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com