BARRE, Vt. (WCAX) – High up Hill Street in Barre, Donna Moran has her own garage gallery.
She’s a self-taught artist with a story to tell. Now 71, she started making artwork in her 40s. It was a dark period in her life as she suffered from deep depression. “That’s a paper bag I took out of the garbage. Isn’t that kind of cool?” Moran said, showing off her work.
Growing up in Chelsea, Moran says she was physically abused by her alcoholic father. “He couldn’t behave that way out in public, but he could behind closed doors,” Moran said.
She struggled at home and at school. Moran married and divorced. It was her therapist who asked the question — “‘Who are you?’ I didn’t know. It’s whatever you wanted me to be,” she said.
And like her dad, Moran says she had a battle with the bottle. “God willing and the creek don’t rise, it’s been 27 years for me,” Moran said.
Reporter Joe Carroll: You haven’t had a drink?
Donna Moran: I haven’t had a drink.
She says art gave her confidence, along with something else that changed her tune. She took up singing and playing guitar. A fellow musician renamed her Donna “Thunder” Moran.
On this night, she’s playing at the local VFW, jamming with a group of friends and belting out a song she wrote.
I first met Donna on a cold evening in 2016. I was shooting a Super Senior with a bunch of musicians in Barre. We chatted and I found out, I really needed to tell her story.
“I think when we first met, I started singing from my gut,” Moran said. Now, she performs just about every night in Central Vermont.
Moran says her transformation from darkness to light couldn’t have happened without Chris Martin, her partner of 16 years. “The combination of the two of us brought out a huge confidence, I think,” Martin said.
Reporter Joe Carroll: So what I see is the real deal?
Chris Martin: Yes it is. She has a hard time faking it. This is Donna for sure.
“If you don’t know how to make yourself happy, you’re never going to be happy,” Moran said, launching into a song. “‘It’s Saturday night, I got the Blues, I got dressed up with plenty to do…’ Yeah, that is an original…”
Just like Moran.