My Humble Beginning

Dr. Donna Kelsch was born in Washington, DC before her parents moved to Pittsburgh, PA to be with her father’s eight siblings and their children. In the 18 years prior to beginning college Donna was a renowned babysitter beginning at the age of 8, after all, at that time she had 6 younger siblings. By the time she finished her first year of college she was the eldest of 11 children and was seriously dating her husband. After graduation from college she married her husband Denis and began her graduate studies. 

In 1997 Donna and Denis relocated to Colorado Springs. In 1999, Denis and Donna gave birth to their beloved son Zachary. After 5 miscarriages they decided to adopt children from Russia, and have been blessed by the lives of Nicholas and Natasha. During the adoption process, Denis obtained a promotion at work and relocated to Arizona and Donna and Zachary stayed in Colorado until the adoption process was completed.

In 2004, the family of five officially moved to Scottsdale, AZ where they resided for 9 years. The downturn in the economy was a difficult hardship for the family since Denis lost his engineering job. Donna’s family struggled to maintain their standard of living, and Denis struggled to accept his new position as ‘house mom’. In 2010 Donna’s mother passed away from lung cancer and this was especially difficult on her, being the eldest and living so far from Pittsburgh. In 2011 Denis secured a job with the Department of the Interior for the federal government in Billings, MT. In AZ, Zachary was finishing his 6th grade year in the self-contained gifted program before he would transition to middle school. Nicholas and Natasha are both special needs children, Nicholas with autism and Natasha has mental health issues, and they were receiving at-home services and therapies in AZ. Throughout the 2011-2012 school year Denis flew back each weekend to be with the family. 

Montana

The family could not handle another year being separated and after visiting Billings and Bozeman several times, the family decided to relocate to Bozeman in 2012. Change is hard, but the kids are adjusting and Donna is thrilled to have only one full time job, working in her own practice as a therapist and providing psychological assessments.