Origin

Donna is the mother of twins, Ben and Billy. Her husband Allen is a shoe salesman and eight years her junior. They live in Gainesville, Georgia prior to the outbreak and, like many others, try to find shelter in Atlanta. On the way their car breaks down and they begin walking. They find Dale's camp already set up and join the group starting to settle there.

Creation

Written by Robert Kirkman and drawn by Tony Moore.

Character Evolution

Donna began as a hard-nosed Christian who looked down on others for living inappropriately (as far as she saw). She would later change her attitude as she traveled, as she saw that life was no longer as black and white.

Major Story Arcs

Camp Outside Atlanta

Donna is a Christian with firmly held beliefs that don't quite fit in with how she sees some of her fellow campers living. She seems to have a particular beef with Andrea and Amy living in Dale's RV with him. She's also upset about the women's rights issues that seem to be cropping up in the camp. She resents the men for taking on the hunting duties while she gets stuck with laundry. She even goes so far as to chide the other women for being excited about doing laundry, even if they get to use decent detergent.

Donna seems to have a change of heart after a close encounter with a zombie that wanders into camp while the ladies are doing laundry. Allen spots the zombie and tries to shoot it but Donna won't move and she's in his way. Donna is saved, however, by Dale, who cuts off the zombie's head before it can bite Donna. Her heart is further softened when Dale relates the tragic death of his wife during the group's campfire dinner. The mood is broken by an attack by a horde of zombies. Amy dies and at her funeral Donna admits that, though there were some negative feelings between the two, she had always loved and admired Amy's ability to take things in stride.

Another result of the zombie attack is Jim is bitten. Donna cares for him and listens to how his family died. She relates to the others his plan to turn into a zombie in hopes of finding his family. They leave him by a tree and Donna and the rest of the group packs into Dale's RV to find a safer, and hopefully warmer, place to wait out the zombie apocalypse.

Wiltshire Estates

The group searches for a place to stay and picks up Tyreese along the way. After some disappointment they finally find a fenced community. The group clears out a house and Donna finds it stocked with canned goods. They separate into rooms by families and Donna carts around some extra blankets. She walks in on Dale and Andrea getting it on and leaves pleased that some people are able to be happy, a clear indicator that her attitude is changing. In the morning she continues to reflect on the fresh start the group has with this housing community. Seeing an opportunity, Allen proposed a bit of intimacy. It is doomed from the start; the twins are awake.

The group begins to look for homes for themselves within the community. Too late, Rick sees a sign that was covered before that warns of the place being overrun by zombies. He is too late getting back to tell the group, as Donna is too cavalier in finding a house and lets her guard down. A zombie bursts from a house and bites her in the face. More zombies appear (the result of Allen trying to shoot his wife free) and Donna gets left behind as zombie food.