Gilbert, Donna Lee Morrison 1935-2025

GILBERT, MORRISON, TOMLINSON, CONNOLLY

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 10/26/2025 at 17:10:48

Donna Lee Morrison Gilbert
April 8, 1935 - October 18, 2025

On a Saturday morning in mid-October, the heavenly Angels of Mercy accompanied Donna Lee Morrison Gilbert, RN as she began her next journey to greet family and friends in another realm. Born on April 8, 1935 in Jasper County, Iowa, Donna was the adored, and only child, of Glenn Waldo Morrison & Jeanne Marie Tomlinson, and departed this world on October 18, 2025 in Des Moines, Iowa as a wife, mother, nurse, friend, grandmother and great- grandmother.

She grew up on a farm in Jasper County, Iowa surrounded by the Morrison, the Tomlinson, the Johnson, the McQueen, the Strickler and the Link clans. Extended family and neighbors were always coming through her childhood home and Sunday suppers meant the good china with laughter and stories galore. Maybe this influenced Donna’s ‘never met a stranger’ philosophy because she was known for her natural ability to strike up a conversation with anyone at anytime.

A 1953 graduate of Farrar School, Donna excelled at her studies while also enjoying success on the basketball court. Small in stature meant she was an agile and wily guard for the team. After high school, she went on to attend the Mercy School of Nursing graduating in 1956. It was here that she discovered a passion for the nursing profession and it would follow her throughout her lifetime.

During busy high school days are when she met Dennis Lee Gilbert, the man she would fall in love with and marry on December 22, 1956. They created a life together, and an unbreakable bond, that would last over 70 years. Life on a family farm is never easy, but Donna persevered and created a home for her husband, two children and a myriad of cats and dogs, with an emphasis on cats. She put her nursing skills to use on their beloved pets and livestock, but her passion for the work kept calling and eventually she re-entered the profession at Iowa Lutheran Hospital spending 25 years there; however nursing wasn’t just a profession for her, it fed her soul and even in her last months navigating medical systems, she always found a kinship with the nurses helping her, and all of them loved reminiscing and commiserating with her about their shared love of Nursing.

Donna enjoyed being out and about with friends and family partaking of films, theatre, concerts, parties, dinners, women’s groups, church groups, committees and lunch bunches. Experiencing both the tourist destination and the off-the-beaten path, she and Dennis traveled the United States both on their own or with friends and family. Once retired, they headed to Mesa, Arizona to escape the winters, and there she established bonds with their neighbors in the retirement community. Every evening she would take a walk around the neighborhood engaging with so many people along the way, and once home would share the tidbits of news and exciting discoveries with her husband.

Crafts! Donna loved to create something out of nothing, and those somethings were always beautiful. Gardens! A lot of time was spent nurturing so many flowers and trees around their home. Baking! Known for her cookies and candies, many a neighbor, friend and postman enjoyed her sweet culinary delights. Embroidery! Her skills adorned tea towels, pillow cases and quilt blocks that delighted lucky recipients. History! Old cemeteries always called out to her and she became a sleuth researching her family Lineage.

But most of all, she loved being with her husband and sharing the experience of life, love, adventure and joy with him. They were everything to each other. A love for all time. Donna Lee Morrison Gilbert is survived by her beloved husband, Dennis Lee Gilbert, her wonderful children, Douglas Kevin Gilbert and Deborah Susan Gilbert, one grandchild, Sierra (Ruby) Connolly, and two great-grandchildren, Lyanna and Glenn. In addition, she also leaves behind her children’s cherished pets that will miss her snuggles, hugs and kisses: Dove, Pippa, Juniper and Clover.

Arrangements are being handled by Coburn Funeral Home in Colfax. Visitation and Service will be Tuesday/October 28 at the Collins Methodist Church. Visitation: 12—1pm and Service: 1pm 225 3rd Avenue, Collins, Iowa 50055. Interment will be Wednesday/October 29th at 12:30pm at Iowa Veterans Cemetery, 34024 Veterans Memorial Dr, Adel, Iowa 50003

The family of Donna Gilbert requests that memorial gifts be designated for Heart Health at UnityPoint Health – Des Moines. Memorial gifts can be made online at www.unitypoint.org/giving/unitypoint-health-des-moines-foundation/areas-to-support or mailed to 1415 Woodland Ave., Suite E-200 Des Moines, Iowa 50309

Animal Rescue League of Iowa, Inc in memory of Donna Gilbert via mail to the following address: Attn: Donations, 5452 NE 22nd Street, Des Moines, Iowa 50313-2528 or via their website: www.arl-iowa.org

Collins Methodist Church in memory of Donna Gilbert, please mail to the following address: 29885 730th Ave, Collins, Iowa 50055

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Donna, please visit our floral store.
Events
Visitation
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
12:00PM - 1:00PM
Collins Methodist Church
225 3rd Avenue
Collins, IA 50055
Memorial Service
Tuesday, October 28, 2025
1:00PM
Collins Methodist Church
225 3rd Avenue
Collins, IA 50055
Final Resting Place
Iowa Veterans Cemetery
34024 Veterans Memorial Drive
Adel, IA 50003
Tribute Wall ~ The Coburn Funeral Home, Colfax, Iowa 18 October 2025.