Donna Mae Davis 1941 - 2019

DAVIS, WARREN

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 4/9/2019 at 08:59:34

Sioux City Journal
8 March 2019

Onawa, Iowa

Donna Mae Davis, 78, of Onawa, passed away Thursday, March 7, 2019, at Elmwood Care Centre in Onawa.

Services will be 10:30 a.m. Monday at St. John's Catholic Church in Onawa, with the Rev. Michael Erpelding officiating. Burial will be in Center Cemetery, near Castana, Iowa. Visitation will be 5 to 8 p.m. Sunday, with a scriptural wake service at 7 p.m., at Rush Family Care Service in Onawa.

Donna Mae Davis was born on Feb. 12, 1941, in rural Castana, to Merlin and Helen (Warren) Davis. She contracted polio in 1952, and was thereafter confined to a wheelchair. She graduated from Castana High School in 1959, and later took several college classes at night through Western Iowa Tech Community College. She moved into Castana with her parents in 1973, and was the city treasurer for 23 years. She was the Castana news correspondent for the local weekly newspapers for 39 years.

Donna was an active member of the Castana community, having been a charter member of the GFWC Junior 76'ers, a past member of the Castana Ladies Aid, American Legion Grimsley-Thayer Post 502, Centennial Club, as well as the Onawa Woman's Club, Denison Repeater Association, Boyer Valley Amateur Radio Club, and the Timber Ridge 4-Wheel Drive Club. She also served on the county committee that successfully campaigned for the passage of the first local option sales tax in Monona County. She has resided at Elmwood Care Centre in Onawa since 1996, serving on the resident council, the marketing committee, and as editor of the facility newsletter for seven years.

Donna enjoyed several hobbies including amateur (ham) radio, cross stitching, crocheting, reading, playing cards, puzzles, traveling, and keeping in touch with friends via e-mail on the computer.
Donna was baptized at Castana United Church of Christ and was a member for many years. In 1995, she converted to Catholicism and was a member of St. Mary's Catholic Church in Mapleton, Iowa. After she moved to Onawa, she regularly attended St. John's Catholic Church in Onawa, and assisted in leading the rosary once a week at Elmwood. She had great faith in the Holy Trinity from which she drew her strength.

Survivors include the man she loved, Robert Rauterkus of Onawa; one brother, Ronald and his wife, Doris Davis of Onawa; one sister, Carol and her husband, Rick Deeds of Correctionville, Iowa; one sister-in-law, Esther Stick of Marion, Iowa; and several nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Merlin and Helen (Warren) Davis; one brother, Howard Davis; and two sisters, Garnet Miller and Darlyne Leisinger.

Monona Obituaries maintained by Linda Ziemann.
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