Donna Ruth Anderson

A visitation is scheduled from 4 to 7p.m., on Monday, March 3, at Memorial Funeral Home, 1217 Business Loop 70 W., in Columbia, with a graveside service held at 11:30 a.m., on Tuesday, March 4th, at Fairley Cemetery, 18155 Empire Loop, in Princeton, Missouri.

Born in Mercer on February 2nd, 1943, Donna graduated in 1960 from Mercer High School.

She left Mercer to work a year in Kansas City, before joining fellow Mercer alum Gary Anderson, in Bremerton, Washington, where he was stationed with the Navy. They were married and had two daughters, Lori Anderson Westhues and Julie Anderson Slattery. In 1966 her family moved to Columbia, where she held jobs as a cafeteria worker at Oakland Jr. High, and a factory worker for 3-M, before becoming, in 1980, (and single by this time), a Deputy Collector for the Boone County Collector’s Office. She spent 28 dedicated years there, retiring in 2008 as Chief Deputy Collector.

Upon retirement she moved to Moberly, to be closer to her daughter, Lori, in Clark. She chased grandchildren in the Midwest and the East Coast (Manhattan and then New Jersey), where her daughter Julie had relocated. Five great-grandchildren joined the family circle, each new baby sharing a reciprocal love with their “Ma.”

Also adoring Donna were her rescued pets. Two dogs, Alice and Sammy, and a bevy of cats, who filled her days with cuddles, drama and amusing “conversations.”

Loving to travel, Donna, never hesitated to join a camping trip, roadtrip or cruise; and twice a year she traveled to the East Coast. She always said she had the best of both worlds: Exploring the big cities, and then relaxing on the peaceful farm in Missouri.

In 2019 Donna moved to live at Meadow Ridge Assisted Living in Moberly, where she lived five carefree years. In 2023, with her health declining, she moved into a bedroom at each of her daughter’s homes and became a true New Yorker, at Long Beach, N.Y., as well as a resident of the farm in Clark. Her daughters would joke they had “shared custody” of this delightful, freethinking and very independent woman who had raised them to always think for themselves and to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” She also taught her family that you have to find laughter when life gets tough, and it often helps to sing, loudly, along with Gloria Gainer’s song “I will survive.”

She was the fourth and last remaining of her immediate family to be stricken with Alzheimer’s disease, so to “keep laughing” became a way of life. In her last years, she lived and laughed a great deal, and she never stopped expressing her gratitude that the best of both worlds had become the best of two homes with her loved ones.

Her family wishes to express to her, their gratitude for all the years of love and laughter.

She is survived by her daughters, Lori Westhues (Bob) of Clark and Julie Slattery (John) of Long Beach, N.Y.; her grandchildren, Jessica Deimeke (Keith) of Martinsburg, Cody Westhues (Hailey) of Clark, and Sean Slattery of Long Beach, N.Y.; and her great-grandchildren, Baylor, Bryden, Ainsley and Hagan Deimeke of Martinsburg, and Wrenley Westhues of Clark.

She was preceded in death by her sisters, Mary Lee McCully (Harold) and Barbara Ann Curry (Lyle), and her parents.

The family wishes to thank these hospices and direct any memorial gifts toward: Caring Hearts & Hands of Columbia, 1307 W. Broadway, Columbia, M.O. 65203; or Compassus Hospice Care, North Central Missouri, 303 North Keene Street, Suite 306, Columbia, Mo 65201.

Condolences and fond memories may be shared at www.memorialfuneralhomeandcemetery.com