Donna was born on June 21, 1949 in Macon, Georgia, to her parents Reverend Allen Sanders and Billie Denson Sanders. She attended Joseph Clisby elementary school with many neighborhood friends who established and maintained a very close-knit group through their time there which lasted for years beyond. After completing her formative education, she enrolled in Stratford Academy in Macon which is central Georgia’s oldest college preparatory school having an extremely diverse and highly rated curriculum. Donna was a 1967 honors graduate and received an outstanding education which provided her a solid base for her college studies.
Donna enrolled at Furman University in 1967 and was a student there until 1969. She transferred to the University of Georgia in 1969 to continue her studies toward her desire to be in social work. Donna received her undergraduate degree in 1971 magna cum laude in Social Work/Psychology and a minor in French. While attending the university, she was a proud member of Tri-Delta and continued to use their core values and principles through life. Donna furthered her studies at the university and accomplished her graduate degree magna cum laude in Psychology from UGA in 1974.
Donna was blessed with a very high order of intelligence even joining the Mensa Society, which served her well in her formal studies and professional life. While studying for her master’s degree, she was a paralegal at a local law firm which helped her immensely in her chosen career as a social worker specializing in child protective welfare. This background in the formal aspects of court proceedings would be directly applicable to the success of many individual cases for which she was entrusted. Donna’s outgoing personality, joyful demeanor and thoughtfulness had a positive influence and profound impact in her work with companies in South Carolina, Baltimore, Maryland, and central Florida.
Donna, like her mother, had an aptitude for music and became an accomplished pianist under the tutelage of one of the best instructors in central Georgia. She was chosen by him to play the closing solo performance at a high school year-ending recital, and was given a standing ovation. Her rendition of Debussy’s Clair de Lune was so masterfully played it was truly spellbinding.
In school she was not the best athlete on a playing field...”klutz” was her word for it...but she developed a passion for tennis which carried through her later years. She played in several formal and informal leagues and thoroughly enjoyed the camaraderie of the many friends she made in the tennis community. She mostly played doubles and was an aggressive and fierce poacher when playing net, to the delight of her partner.
Donna was introduced to the games of contract bridge and duplicate bridge at an early age by her mother who was a life master. She played with some of the local Macon groups while in high school and was deeply involved in the game wherever she lived. In Florida, she was part of a large group of friends who played duplicate bridge regularly at one of the many community clubhouses. The group participants changed from week to week as individual schedules shifted, but the members remained committed and enjoyed the competition and light-hearted rivalries. Their physical-presence play had to change to an online app Zoom-play due to the pandemic, but the level of enthusiasm never waned even through pesky internet interruptions and outages.
Donna’s active mind was constantly searching for challenges, and she found one in the game of Mahjong...fortunately, there was a local group which she readily joined. That began the long process of not only learning the many game tiles, but also the strategies associated with the game to produce an entire hand of winning tile combinations. She said it was definitely what she was looking for in regards to adding some new demanding and stimulating concepts.
Sadly, Donna passed away on May 23, 2021. She will be remembered as a person with a gregarious personality, inquisitive mind, someone who would move past adversity but would openly embrace good fortune, who accepted people openly and without judgement, and someone who was intensely compassionate.
Donna is survived by her brother, Allen Sanders, Jr. of Cedar Park, Texas; her son, John Hinds of Charlotte, North Carolina; her daughter, Anson Berger of Austin, Texas; and grandchildren Noah, Kori, Sullivan, Hudson, Tenely and Chandler.
Those wishing to share a remembrance may give to: Crescent House, Navicent Health Child Advocacy Group, 726 1st St. Macon, GA 31201 or The Methodist Home for Children & Youth, 304 Pierce Ave. Macon, GA 31204 or Vineville Methodist Church, 2045 Vineville Ave. Macon, GA 31204.
A graveside service will be held on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, at Riverside Cemetery at 11:00 AM with Dr. Marcus Tripp officiating. Casual dress is suggested.
Visit www.snowsmacon.com to express tributes.
Snow’s Memorial Chapel, Bass Road, has charge of arrangements.
