Donna was raised on a dairy farm in rural Western NY, and therefore, had a very strong work ethic instilled at a young age. She graduated from Albion Central High School in 1965. Donna entered the workforce as a uniform delivery driver back in the mid 70’s. She met her future husband, Wilbur Sherwood Schlesinger, while working at Cadet Cleaners. Wilbur was eventually fired because of the “no fraternizing” policy. They married on November 19, 1977. Donna met a lot of people over the course of her uniform deliveries, including the person that would end up becoming her son-in-law after overhearing a conversation about him wanting to find a “nice” girl. She played matchmaker and set her daughter up on a blind date.
After approximately 20 years of delivering uniforms, she completely changed career paths and went to work for Flexo-Transparent, a plastic bag manufacturing company in Buffalo, NY. She continued at Flexo up until late 1995, when she and Wilbur packed up and moved to NC to escape the harsh winters of Buffalo.
Upon her arrival to NC, she had been employed with a plastic injection mold company in Kernersville. That didn’t last for too long before she found her last job at what is now known as Exo-Pack, another plastic bag manufacturing company in Thomasville. She always received a perfect attendance bonus quarterly, then annually for many years. She attempted retirement life for a short period of time in 2009. When she realized she preferred to stay busy, she went back to Exo-Pack up until the week of her stroke in 2013. She met a few special ladies while working there that she always held very close to her heart - Kathy, Martha, and Jane.
Donna has collected porcelain dolls for as far back as most of her family can remember. She may have taken them out of their boxes and placed them in curios, but she always kept the certificates and boxes to eventually place them back. She has also collected elephants of various types – statues, figurines, clocks, lamps, pocketbooks, etc., which is no surprise as she had a memory like an elephant.
She loved to bake her famous sugar cookies for every holiday that there was on the calendar. She had a metal cookie cutter shape for every one of those holidays. Those sugar cookies with her homemade frosting were enough to make everyone fat year round. After moving to NC, she would make her cookies, make a large batch of frosting and put it in a ziploc round container to ship them back up north to her sons, so they could have her Christmas cookies.
Donna is survived by her loving husband of nearly 45 years, Wilbur; daughter Jackie (Vahid) Keranovic, sons; Dale (Jennifer) Plueckhahn, Eric (June) Hutchinson, and Thomas (Nichole) Schlesinger; grandchildren Justin Slike, Joshua (Katherine) Keranovic, Adam (Ashley) Plueckhahn, Brittany Bunce, Amanda (Steve) Plueckhahn, Sterling (Eden) Hutchinson, Xavier Schlesinger, Heather Schlesinger, and Mark Schlesinger; six great grandchildren, Raelyn, Irelin, Jennon, Jasper, Maci and Brantley; two brothers, Gary (Doreen) Wilson, and Tom (Debbie) Wilson; and several nieces, nephews, and friends. She also had a special place in her heart for her “adopted” daughter Ann (Brian) Ciesla.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her sister & brother-in-law, Judith (Laverne) Fancher, nephew Edward Fancher, granddaughter Sarah Bunce, and grandson Ezekiel “Zeke” Schlesinger.
The family will greet friends on Friday, May 20, 2022 from 4:00 to 6:00 pm at Sechrest-Davis Funerals and Cremations, 18 Randolph St., Thomasville, NC 27360.
A Celebration of Life Service will be held at 11:00 am on Sunday, July 3, 2022 in the Chair City Room of Sechrest-Davis Funerals and Cremations, 18 Randolph St., Thomasville, NC 27360.
In addition to flowers, or in lieu of, memorials may be made to Hospice of Davidson County.
The family is under the care of Sechrest-Davis Funerals and Cremations of Thomasville. Online condolences: www.sechrestdavisthomasville.com –select obituaries.
