Donna Jean Hart, 80, passed away on Friday, April 13, 2018, at Florida Hospital Tampa. Until the last months of her life, she had been active in her book club and enjoyed entertaining friends and family who visited her at her beautifully maintained home north of Tampa.
Survivors include her sons, Christopher Hart of Baltimore, Md., and Brian Hart of Springtown, Texas; her youngest brother, Dan (Emily) Teague of Mt. Carmel, Ill.; grandchildren Jennifer (Jon) Garrison, Daisy Hart, Evan Hart, Robin Hart Vanlangendonck, and Shelley Hart Murphy (James Murphy); great-granddaughter Ashlynn Garrison; daughters-in-law Anne Haddad, Judy Hart and Tammy Hart; sisters- and brothers-in-law Karen Teague, Barbara (Jerry) Myers, Ralph (Ruth) Hart, Emma Adams, Kenneth (Patricia) Hart, Robert (Sheryl) Hart, Liz (Greg) Baxter; and many nieces, nephews and cousins. Two of her brothers, Jack Teague and Frederick Teague, and Fred’s wife, Judy Teague, died in recent years. Another brother, Chester Marshall, died shortly after birth.
She was born in Sandborn, Ind., in 1937, to Bonnie Maxine (Bowman) and Chester Marshall Teague, delivered at home by the town midwife. Growing up, she often helped care for her three younger brothers, especially during World War II while her father served overseas in the U.S. Navy.
She graduated from Sandborn High School in 1955. In 1957, she married Phillip Richard Hart. They were happily married for nearly 47 years, until his death on March 8, 2004. They had two sons, Chris and Brian, and lived most of their life in Columbus, Ind., where both Phil and Donna worked at the then-Cummins Engine Company. Donna worked as an administrative assistant in the engineering department at Cummins.
For most of their life together, Donna loved to travel around the country with Phil behind the wheel. They took an early retirement and left Cummins in 1987 to move to Florida, where they lived for the rest of their lives when not visiting their children and grandchildren in Maryland and Texas, and family in Indiana.
“One of my favorite memories with my Grams would have to be going to the movies with her and seeing Austin Powers,” said her oldest granddaughter, Jennifer Garrison. “Mind you...this was all her idea! To see my proper grandma laughing and tears rolling down her cheeks from that silly movie is forever one of my fondest memories with her. She was such a cool and funny Grandma. I’m really going to miss her quirkiness.”
“I remember my Grandma and Grandpa dancing together on Christmas morning,” said her other granddaughter, Daisy Hart. “Those two would make you believe in love! I hope they are dancing together again now.” Daisy was named after Donna’s own grandmother, Daisy Inez (Mitchell) Bowman.
“I remember how Grandma would listen to me play piano for her over the phone when I was very young,” said her grandson, Evan Hart. “I highly doubt it sounded very good at all, but of course she would tell me it was beautiful and that I was a very creative Hart. Sometimes I would just sit and talk with her for more than an hour, and ask her to listen to new songs I learned. I will always miss her unconditional motivation and love she had for me.”
Donna was very proud of her children and grandchildren and embraced the digital age as a way to stay in touch with them through email and Facebook.
Services in Florida will be private, and a memorial service for family and friends will be held in the fall in Indiana. To be updated about the Indiana memorial service, please leave a comment in the Guestbook on this site and allow your email address to be given to the family.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to a charity of the donor’s choosing, in Donna’s name.
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