Donna M. Maritato, 66, died Jan. 9, 2017 at Maine Medical Center, of complications of polycythemia vera, a blood disease she had had since 1972.

She was born Nov. 28, 1950, in Mt. Vernon, N.Y., the daughter of Ralph Maritato and Dolly (Auth) Maritato. Growing up initially on City Island, N.Y., and then in Northport, N.Y, she attended local schools, graduating from Northport High School in 1968. She graduated from Stony Brook University in 1973 with a Bachelor of Arts in archaeology/geology; from the University of Maine in Augusta in 1980 with an Associates of Arts in nursing and from the University of Maine in Orono in 1995 with a Bachelor of Science in nursing.

In 1971 she married Bob Grobe in New York and they relocated to Maine in 1974. Donna worked for more than 30 years as a registered nurse at Penobscot Bay Medical Center in the emergency department, employee health, endoscopy and anticoagulation services.

She and Bob traveled widely before her disease started to take its toll. She also assisted in running a boat in the Caribbean, was an active hiker and member of the Adirondack Fortysixers, the Northeast 4,000 Footers, a registered Maine Guide, a participant in the Maine Dragonfly Survey, the Maine Bumblebee Survey, an ocean and lake kayaker, a member of the Josselyn Botanical Society and other Maine natural history groups. Donna loved to spend time in the natural world and was always ready for a walk in the woods.

Donna was courageous, inspirational, valiant, kind, warm, enthusiastic, curious, adventurous, strong, intelligent, and humble, with a quiet passion and a genuine comforting warmth. She was a ray of light to all who knew her. That spirit was flagging in recent years, wearing her down from all the medical emergencies that were trying to take her life, but she never surrendered.

She is survived by her husband and soulmate, Bob Grobe of Camden; her mother, Dolly Maritato of Owls Head, formerly Appleton; three sisters, Ginny Murphy (Brian), Joann Craig (John) of New York and Elizabeth Maritato (Gray Hanna) of Rockport; four brothers, Tom (Karen), Peter (Dorothy) and Joseph (Nadine), all of New York, and Bill of California; as well as ten nieces and nephews. She was followed in death on Jan. 10, 2017, by her father, Ralph Maritato.

Following Donna's wishes, there will be no memorial service.