Butler County Board of Elections employee dies

The “glue that held the pieces together” at the Butler County Board of Elections has died, confirmed Diane Noonan, the board’s director, to this news outlet.

Donna Defazio, of Hamilton, who served as Noonan’s executive assistant, died Monday night at West Chester Hospital, two weeks after cancer surgery, according to Noonan, who said a blood clot was found in Defazio’s lungs..

Defazio was 63 years old and had worked at the board for about 10 years.

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“God has an angel and I had an angel every day taking care of me,” Noonan said.

Defazio was “always on task” and completed jobs weeks before they were due, Noonan said.

“She’ll be hard to replace,” she said. “She was my employee and my friend.”

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Noonan said she was texting with Defazio’s family on Monday when she got an alarming message: “CPR. Please pray.”

Then she didn’t get another message.

“I knew something was bad,” she said. “This is just heart-breaking.”

Defazio is survived by her husband, David, and two daughters, Holly Defazio and Heather Drinan.

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