Eileen Donohue

Eileen M. Donohue passed peacefully from this world on January 28, 2025, surrounded by her loving family after a battle with cancer. Eileen graduated from Zion Benton township High School, class of 1972. She had many friends during her school days, and found great enjoyment in the theater program. She carried a great fondness for musicals - particularly the Music Man - her entire life. Shortly after her graduation, she began her life as an antiquarian book dealer. For the past 50 years, she owned and operated a bookstore (first in Zion, then in Winthrop Harbor) known as Galaxy of Books. Throughout her life, and particularly through her bookstore, she touched the lives of a great many people. She was always quick with a smile, a laugh and a joke. Her unending kindness to others will never be forgotten.

She was a fierce lover of animals and nature. At all times in her life she had a pet to love and care for. It may have been an aquarium of exotic fish, dogs, or her beloved cats. Her bookstore kitty, Lucy, is well known about town.

She was fascinated with dinosaurs, fossils, minerals, gemstones and rocks of all shapes and sizes and at any given time you might have found her carrying a collection of rocks or fossils. One of Eileen's favorite places was the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Illinois. She was a greeter/tour guide there for a brief period.

Eileen will be loved and remembered as a vital member of the Zion and Winthrop Harbor communities for years to come. She will be greatly missed by all.

Eileen is survived by her siblings, Constance Allen, Kathleen (Charles) Stewart, Nancy (Edward) Allen, and James (Amy) Donohue; her nieces and nephews Nancy Allen, Beth Stewart, Alex (Leslie) Allen, Eric Stewart, Anne (Paul) Wright, Erin (Adam) Stephens, Tom Donohue and John Donohue; as well as many additional great nieces and nephews and dear friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Thomas and Annabella Currie Donohue; her maternal grandparents, Alexander and Annie Stewart Currie and her step-grandmother Ellen Dolan Currie; her paternal grandparents, James and Margaret Meechan Donochie; her brother-in-law, J. Thomas Allen; and her nephew, Charles Stewart.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a donation to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, IL, The Vince Lombardi Cancer Clinic in Kenosha, WI, or Fat Cat Rescue in Wadsworth, IL.

There will be a celebration of Eileen's life in the spring or summer.