Bertha Terry Donahue was a long time member of the Washington, D.C. music community. She was a regular contributor to the Friday Morning Music Club Composer Concerts and was a much - loved singer in the Choral Arts Society, performing frequently with the National Symphony Orchestra. She was born in New York and completed her musical education at Smith College and the Institut Jaques-Dalcroze of Geneva, Switzerland. Her compositions run the gamut from instrumental ensemble works to pieces for accompanied solo voice to choral works and operettas.

She especially enjoyed writing musical settings for her favorite poetry, including works by Shakespeare, Faulkner and many others. Her choral works were performed by the Georgetown and George Washington University Choirs, the Norman Scribner Choir, Jubilate and Philomela, among others. A lifelong outdoors person, she spent all her summers in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State.