“She was like everybody’s grandma.”

So one man summed up Donnie Berry at her memorial service last Saturday afternoon at Auburn’s St. Matthew Episcopal Church. Heads nodded.

Because of course, Berry was that, and at the same time much more to so many people.

An active volunteer in the Auburn community for 40 years, she gave generously of her time to the Auburn Valley YMCA, was a member of Auburn Rotary Club, volunteered many hours to Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society, taught safe driving to seniors, and regularly visited inmates as part of a prison ministry.

And, according to her friend and fellow church member, Carolyn Smith, when the occasion demanded it, she could be a memorable whip cracker over souls who in her eyes weren’t nipping along smartly enough when getting something done hung in the air.

Berry, who died of cancer earlier this month at 85, left an out-sized set of shoes to fill, according to those who knew and loved her.

And those who knew and loved her were legion.

“Just a wonderful friend and Christian,” said friend and fellow parishioner Louise Wolters.

“She was a woman who spoke her mind,” said Smith.

Friends recalled a strong-willed, self-made woman, a trail blazer who toppled racial and gender barriers to build a life of substance, raised a family, and later contributed to causes too many to count in the community she loved.

“I believe in giving without the thought of receiving something back,” Berry told the Auburn Reporter after the Auburn Rotary Club had chosen her as Pioneer Queen in 2010.

At the feet of her grandmother, Lennie, the girl learned to bring out the best in others.

“At 85, she still tended to her garden,” Berry once recalled of her grandmother. “If there ever was an angel on Earth, she was it. She always believed in helping a friend. She lived to be 101.”

Berry’s family moved from Shreveport, La., to Seattle in 1946, so she could study medicine at the University of Washington. She wanted to be a doctor, but at that time women were not welcomed into the field.

“And I refused to become a librarian,” Berry said.

Berry was an accountant for 25 years, starting at the South King County Equal Opportunity Bureau, where Donald Rumsfeld had appointed her to balance the books.

She would be a retail manager, an accountant for ABC Records & Tape in downtown Seattle and an employee of a parent company linked to the launching of the Head Start program.

For 23 years, Berry worked for the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency before time forced her grudging retirement at the young age of 73.

Johnnie Butler, her second cousin, now living in Renton, on Saturday recalled the woman whom she called “the busiest person I have ever met.”

“She and I were like sisters; we did so many different things together. She got me involved in golf and so many other things. She inspired me to join international organizations. We visited each other all the time. Every holiday she was there at the big family gatherings at my house. She had a big heart. She was up early in the morning, going to Toastmasters at 7 or something, or teaching driving classes for AARP, at 85 years old.

“One of the things that really intrigued me, given all the articles in the paper and the poem about her, was that I knew the family side of her life, and just a smidgen of her public life. To bring all of those together here today was just so so awesome. She lived a great life.”

A mother of five children from two marriages, Berry had three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. One of Barry’s three sons, Carl, a Vietnam War veteran, who passed away in 1988. Another son, Mark, is a movie and television actor.

She was disciplined but fair with her children – strict, with a gentle touch.

“My kids called me ‘Sarge,’ ” Berry once said.

A Rotarian since 1994, Berry was named president of the South Seattle Rotary Club, the first African-American woman to hold the position with the district organization.

“I believe in smiling when you get up in the morning,” Berry once said. “You don’t know if someone had a bad day, but if you smile, it might make them feel better.”