Donna Kay Finney

Donna Kay Hardman Lowe Finney was born in Texas City, Texas on October 23, 1950. She died November 15, 2022, not long after turning 72. Donna is survived by her husband of 33 years, John David Finney of Midlothian, VA; her son Shane Michael Lowe of Wapello, IA; her daughter and son-in-law Kari Marie Lowe Sims and Shaun Sims of Mosely, VA; and three grandchildren, Cameron and Caden Sims and Shane Lowe, Jr. Additionally, she has a sister Pam Wilson and husband Jim of McKinney, Texas; and two older brothers, Lee Wayne Miller and wife Connie of Apple Valley, California; and Harold Miller, Jr. and wife Celene of Houston, Texas. Donna was preceded in death by her loving parents, Emery Ray Hardman, Barbara McNulty Hardman Miller, and Harold Ray Miller, Sr.; and a brother Mark Miller with whom she was very close.

The most significant aspects of Donna’s life include her life as a devout Christian, her marriage to J.D. Finney, her pride in her children Shane and Kari, her commitment to serving others, and the patriotic and fulfilling career life she led for the country and the service men and women she loved and served.

Growing Up

Donna grew up in Texas City, TX in the same home until she became an adult. At first, Donna lived in a small house with her mother and daddy and sister. Several aunts, uncles and cousins lived within walking distance; and family get-togethers with large buffet tables were regular entertainment, usually in one of the back yards.

Life took an unexpected turn when Donna was very young. Donna’s dad was diagnosed with cancer when she was two, although the children did not understand the seriousness of the situation. Daddy had one leg amputated about a year later, but it was too late; and the cancer began to grow throughout his body. When Donna was three or four, her daddy went to live in the Veterans Hospital in Houston, 50 miles away. Life began to change.

Children under twelve were not allowed in hospitals at that time, and Donna was only able to see her Daddy a very few times when an ambulance would bring him home for the weekend (usually when his relatives were visiting from West Virginia).

Donna’s mother found a job at the local hospital in admittance, making $200 a month. She went to Houston every weekend and stayed with her older brother Jesse so she could see Daddy. Donna and Pam stayed with family friends each weekend until Daddy died when Donna was 8. Money was scarce, aunts and uncles chipped in each month to help support us and our grandmother.

During those years, Donna and Pam were responsible for cooking dinner each night. Pam could cook meat and potatoes, and vegetables from cans. Donna, though, mastered spaghetti sauce. At the time, we thought that was a miraculous feat, and spaghetti became a regular menu item. Of course, every so often, our grandmother made seafood gumbo, which we all loved!

The house was nine houses away from the seawall that was built to protect the residents of Texas City from Galveston Bay. Living near the Bay provided an interesting backdrop to Donna’s youth. The family swam, caught fish and crabs, and enjoyed the beaches of Galveston every year.

Life in Texas City in the 1950s was very exciting for the children. World War II was over, and the baby boom was well underway. Donna went to Roosevelt-Wilson Elementary School. We lived a few blocks away, so Donna was able to walk to and from school with her friends in the neighborhood.

Kids in the neighborhood had bicycles and took them all over town, including visiting friends, the movie theatre, the city swimming pool, and even blackberry picking at the city dump. Life was easy, and good. For several years, Donna and Pam were invited to the Optimist Club Christmas party, where each was given a doll as a gift.

During the next several years, life improved. Mother got a job in a CPA office. We took summer vacations every summer with our Aunt Hattie, Uncle Bill, and cousin Billy. They were driving vacations with seven of us in one car—with no air conditioning. Aunt Hattie always brought her toaster, and we enjoyed grilled cheese sandwiches often. Best of all, we always found motels with swimming pools.

In 1961, two big events happened. The first was Hurricane Carla. The hurricane was coming directly at Texas City, so we had to evacuate to our Aunt Nell’s farmhouse in Tomball, Texas. All seven of us stayed at Aunt Nell’s for several days until the water receded. A neighbor took the sills from the doors of the house, and the water drained out before we got home. Unfortunately, the house still had two feet of sewage silt inside. Yuck! And with snake tracks throughout the silt. What an experience, and what a MESS!!!

The other big event that year was that Mother met Harold Miller at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention she attended with friends in San Antonio. Soon, he was driving to Texas City each weekend, and on November 24, they were married. Harold retired from the Air Force and moved in with us. Better yet, over the next several years, his three sons from a previous marriage all came to live with us. Five teenagers in the house at once! We had some fun times! We all benefitted from the arrangement. Life was stable.

Her Own Home and Family

After high school, Donna worked in Galveston for a while. Soon, she and Mike Lowe concluded their long teen-age courtship in marriage. They moved to Webster, Texas, where Donna worked for the National Space and Aeronautical Administration (“NASA”). Their first child, Shane, was born while in Webster on October 30,1972 and she adored him from the start.

Mike was stationed in California, and the family moved. Donna got a job writing feature stories for the Lemoore Naval Air Station newspaper. This experience helped her later in life when she wrote numerous newsletters. On May 1, 1975, Kari was born while Mike was at sea. Donna was so thrilled to have a daughter, also.

And Then, Life and Love Happens

Significant shifts happened in Donna’s life after 1988. She and Mike divorced, and she accepted an exciting new position in Washington, D.C. in Navy Recruiting Command Headquarters as an Assistant for Minority Recruiting. She flourished and began to find herself. Most of her recruiting was focused on college campuses. She got to know Montel Williams, as he was one of Navy’s west coast motivational speakers. During this time, she was invited to attend an NAACP national conference, where she was bestowed with an honorary membership.

During this time in Washington, D.C. she met a young, handsome, dashing Air Force Captain named John David Finney. He proposed in March. Kari and Shane moved to Washington, D.C. in April, and a new family unit was formed on August 5, 1989. The wedding was held on Fort Myers in the Old Chapel at the rear gate to Arlington National Cemetery, with military honors, a saber arch, and a horse-drawn Centennial-era carriage.

Two years later, J.D. was transferred to Omaha. Shane was in the Navy, and Donna and Kari moved to Omaha. She temporarily left civil service. After a few months, she got another position in the Family Services Center on Offutt Air Force Base. She was a certified financial counselor for military personnel in all four service branches.

J.D. retired in Omaha. After a stint as a consultant, he was offered a job in Denver. Donna got a transfer four months later. J.D. liked to tell her that from that point forward, he would follow her anywhere. In Colorado, they moved to the Black Forest near Colorado Springs, as he worked in Denver and Donna worked at Ft. Carson in Army Community Services (“ACS”).

Army Community Services is where she spent the rest of her career. From Colorado, they moved to Baumholder, Germany. Donna was hired as the director of ACS for the post. As a director, she had eight work centers reporting to her. This was a huge promotion.

Donna and J.D. stayed in Baumholder about 18 months. She was credited with taking what was the worst ACS center in the entire Army and transforming it to the best ACS center in Europe. This is when her career took off.

After a year, she was invited to an awards ceremony where both she and her team were nominated for top ACS awards. Unfortunately, she had to choose between receiving the individual award or the unit award. She chose to honor her team. General B.B. Bell, the four-star head of U.S. Army Europe, was so impressed, he named her “Morale, Welfare and Recreation Civilian of the Year” for all Army units in Europe.

Subsequently, General Bell always requested Donna to brief him on ACS matters. He indicated his desire to promote her to GS-12 which was the level associated with a Europe-wide ACS. He was told that she had to have a master’s degree to be given that position, so General Bell waived the requirement, and she was promoted to Director ACS Europe.

Donna and J.D. then moved to Hanau, Germany for that promotion. She stayed there another 18 months, and her name was becoming well known in the Army. The director for ACS Services in Washington, D. C. Headquarters came over for a conference. Donna briefed her, and about three months later Donna was moved to Washington, D. C. Headquarters to write ACS policy Army-wide. This new position also required another promotion to GS13, and they again waived the master’s degree requirement.

Donna found that she preferred being out in the field over being in Headquarters. About a year later, her boss from Baumholder was promoted to full colonel and was named Post Commander at Ft. Stewart in Hinesville, Georgia. He offered Donna the ACS director position at Ft. Stewart, one of the three very large Army posts in the United States. Again, she was highly successful.

Not long thereafter, her grandchildren began being born. Despite the gratification Donna received in her career, she missed her children and found that she loved being a grandmother. She decided to retire. The Army promoted Donna to GS-14 to ask her to stay. She opted to leave, but they still retired her as a GS-14, one level from the top GS designation.

Donna’s family will continue to miss her very much, but we are all grateful that she has been promoted one last time. We cherish the thought of her being among the family members she has missed for so long, without a stressful care in the world.

A private Celebration of Life Service in Donna’s honor will be held at St. Matthias’ Episcopal Church, 11300 W. Huguenot Rd Midlothian, VA 23113 on December 3, 2022 at 1 p.m. Interment will immediately follow the service in the Memorial Garden behind the Church.