Born on July 5th, 1942 to Clyde and Margaret Spangler (nee Schumann), later joined by her younger brother Clyde Jr (aka Butch), she grew up in Seattle Washington. Donna was a shy, loving, and caring little girl, who, by the age of 10, had already taken on many of the home responsibilities because her mother and father had to spend long hours working as a butcher and laundromat attendant. By the age of 17, she married Robert Pettitt, whom she had met at her youth group at church. Together they had three children, Donald, Roger, and Cheri. By the age of 21, she found was a single mother, and she moved back in with her parents, determined to give the best life to her three babies. At 25, she was remarried to Robert Stocker, and together they lived in Kent, Washington, and worked at Dial Finance, until they moved to Salem, Oregon at the age of 33, where she started a job with the school district as a buyer.
Despite working a 9-5 job, coming home and taking care of all of the home duties, she always made time to support and care for her children. Donna would always make time to attend EVERY athletic, music, and academic event. But Donna was not only a family woman, she was also someone that excelled in a male dominated field. Time and time again she was given raises that would normally be reserved only for men at that time. Eventually, she ended up running the very department that hired her, a true testament to how hard she worked. Not only was she providing a good life for her children, she was doing a job that she both enjoyed and excelled at.
By the time she turned 58, Robert and Donna divorced, and she found that she had a whole new generation to pour her love on, her grandchildren Joel, Angela, John, Jen, Justin, Jordan, Greg, Zach, Ryan, and Adam. She was generous beyond compare, and truly loved each and every one of her grandchildren. By the time the next generation rolled around (her great grandchildren Liam, Lily, Grayson, and Garrett), she *claimed* that there were just too many to get presents for, and yet, every year she would get each presents anyways, saying “I had to get you all *something*.”
Donna truly cared about everyone and wanted to know what was happening in their lives. She was always ready for a new adventure, and she never had a “no” in her, except for if it meant she had to eat something new.
Donna was a person who saw the barriers in hers and others’ lives and refused to accept them. She was a woman who experienced so much hardship, but never once complained. She was a woman that was shaped by so many things, but she was also a woman who shaped so many things, shaped so many people. She was deeply loving, deeply caring, knew her worth, and would not take anything less than the best for herself and those around her. She may be gone, but she truly lives on in the hearts of everyone that she has touched. She will truly be missed.
A memorial service for Donna will be held Saturday, June 5, 2021 from 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM at Howell, Edwards, Doerksen with Rigdon-Ransom Funeral Directors, 1350 Commercial Street SE, Salem, OR 97302.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.hed-fh.com for the Stocker family.
Partager l'avis de décès
v.1.9.5