Donna B. Kasbohm

Upon reflection, I believe that even as a young child, music was the "life-blood coursing through my veins." I became aware of a "presence" that led me to pester my parents for piano lessons when I was three years old.

As a young girl I always found a place (or it found me) to connect my life to making music. Through grade school and high school there was always a recital or class play to be preparing along with the ordinary duties of a student.

With a "music scholarship" in hand, I started college at St. Catherine College (now university) in St. Paul, Minnesota, graduating cum laude, with majors in music and psychology and minors in theology and education. From there I became a faculty member of Holy Angels High School in Minneapolis while continuing as organist at various parishes in the archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Meanwhile, I earned an M.A. from St. Thomas University in Liturgy and Pastoral Studies. (My thesis: Renewing a Parish: The Vitality Curve.)

Marriage to Bob, a beautiful man (a baritone!), brought joy and music and nine children into our lives. Many mentors along the way became life-long friends in my positions as Director of Music in a number of Twin City parishes as well as assisting with conferences, retreats, and similar events. This prompted me to form a consulting business (Custom Occasions) to facilitate those events.

After Bob's death, I was motivated to collect and organize all my original music, which alerted me to the need for a "center" to collect the artifacts of recent history and its connection to the music written during that time. This included music of my contemporaries as well as my own. It was a labor of love and ultimately has become a family enterprise to preserve, share, and make accessible these works through Treasury of Sacred Music, Inc.