Jack and Elaine Donahue celebrate 65th anniversary with surprise visits

Jack and Elaine Donahue received some personal gifts to help celebrate their 65-year anniversary Friday – really personal gifts. Son Tom and his wife Esther flew in from Phoenix and "completely surprised them," said Sue Schindler, the eldest of the Donahue's six children. "I picked them up at the airport and dropped them off at the end of the block. They called my dad and walked in the door (at their parents' house). My parents were just blown away. My dad's holding up the phone, 'Hey, your brother is one the phone.' " That afternoon, the Donahues went to a local restaurant and found daughter Karen and her husband Jens "holding the table for them," Schindler said. Later, the Donahues' son John and his son, James, surprised them at another restaurant. "Fabulous, fabulous," Schindler said, describing a private room full with about 20 family members, "and we just had a wonderful dinner. We gave them some funny presents, my parents just got up and talked about their lives. It was just one thing after the other. They were just both bawling the whole time." Beyond connections in Auburn, Meadow Vista, Colfax, Loomis and Lincoln, family members are spread from Southern California to the Bay Area. Schindler said her dad was in the Air Force and met Elaine in Connecticut. They came to California after the military and now live in Lincoln Hills. "Super, just incredible parents," Schindler said. Elaine was described as the "best wife/mother ever" in an anniversary submission to the Auburn Journal. Jack retired from the Air Force and worked in law enforcement. They have six children, 17 grandchildren and one great-granddaughter with one on the way.