Donna Reese Godwin

Spirit unbound, Donna Godwin died Friday morning. Vigil will be held at St. Peter’s Cathedral Tuesday, June 12, 2012 from 1:15pm to 2:15pm with a Funeral Mass celebrated at 2:30pm. Interment will follow at Terry Cemetery in the family plot, next to her husband of 47 years George W. Godwin, Jr.

Born in Texas -- and always proud of it -- Donna spent her early years in Tyler, then Houston; until the emerging Mississippi oil and gas industry lured her Nebraskan-geologist father to Jackson.

During her first year in high school, Donna lived with her folks in the Heidelberg Hotel, walking to Central High School and St. Peter's Cathedral each day. Her parents sent her to Hockaday School in Dallas for her last two years of high school then to Sweet Briar College in Virginia. Donna graduated from Sophie Newcombe College (now a part of Tulane University) with a degree in Fine Arts. She was a lifelong, devoted member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.

Donna met and married George W. Godwin Jr., a 5th-generation Mississippian whose father started Mississippi's first advertising agency. George was destined to influence the state's economic development and assist in the progress of both the city and state, and Donna never neglected to enlighten his path. Donna and George, both only-children, had 6 children who all survive them as do their 23 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren, all spread over 2 countries, 5 states, and 11 cities. To her final breath, she instilled in all her children the need to listen to the Lord, live in the happiness He intended each of them, and to compete in running the good race. This was her life.

Donna was an active supporter of many Jackson social and cultural institutions: New Stage Theatre, the Mississippi Museum of Art, Mississippi Opera, and the Mississippi Symphony. She has long been an active member of the St. Peter’s Cathedral parish. But, perhaps the richest experience of all was the many years of hosting of International Ballet Competition judges and contributing to the USA-IBC.

Memorial contributions are welcomed to any of these institutions all of which foster and celebrate artistic and spiritual expression of the unbound spirit.