Don and Donna Beard named as Honorary Chairs of Masks at MoA

The Fort Collins Museum of Art has announced the selection of Don and Donna Beard as the 2015 Kaiser Permanente-Banner Health Masks Project Honorary Chairs. The Beards will be jointly honored throughout the Masks Project for their support of the museum as well as the Fort Collins community.

Don Beard was born and raised in Cheyenne, WY. A fourth-generation Coloradoan, Donna was born in Denver. The couple met while attending Creighton University in Omaha where Don also completed his medical degree at Creighton Medical School. While Donna interned in medical technology in Denver, Don did an internship at St. Joseph’s Hospital followed by his residency at Denver Children’s Hospital. In 1964, following Don’s work for the Indian Division of Public Health Service, he, Donna and their four small children moved to Fort Collins. Here, Don started The Youth Clinic while Donna developed her interest in stained glass art forms.

Both of the Beards became active as community volunteers, and it is for this work Don and Donna are being honored by the Fort Collins Museum of Art.

Donna served on the boards of United Way, Fort Collins Arts and Humanities Council, Parks and Recreation Board, Lincoln Center, and the Community Foundation of Northern Colorado and volunteered in many other capacities. Don became a member of the Fort Collins Museum of Art board when the organization moved into its current home, then called the Post Office Building. For the museum, it meant not only have a board member with an interest in the arts, but also a handyman whose talents in woodworking and metalsmithing expanded to HVAC repairs and renovation of the building’s historic exterior. Now retired, Don focuses even more fully on his many arts and crafts interests.