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Donette is the second oldest of four children. She has a sister, Dawn who is 6 years older, and brother, Jason, 9 years younger, and a sister, Amanda, 10 years younger She was the smallest of all my babies, and remained the smallest in the family. Her younger brother and sister, grew taller than her in no time. We called her 'little bit'. My favorite pet name for her was 'Morning-glory', because all her life she woke with a smile. She was a good baby and hardly ever cried, and when she did, you had to listen close to tell if she really was crying. Donette went through her childhood like all normal kids do. She loved living on our farm and being able to run free with our dogs in the fields. She was adventurous, and always wanted to try new things and to learn all she could, about everything. She went four years of grade school in a Catholic school and then when I decided to return to work, which meant no bus service and no way to get her and her sister to school. We transferred them to the Public School which had bus service. When she entered the 5th grade, she was befriended by a beautiful girl named Vicky. These two became best of friends. They did everything together. When it was time for Donette to go to high school, she went to the Catholic High School in the joining town. The summer after her freshman year she had talked with Vicky, and they had made plans for her to transfer to the same school. That summer, Vicky wanted to go on a road trip with her father, who was a trucker. The trip ended in tragedy. On July 18, 1986, there was an accident and the results of which Vicky died, and her father had serious injuries. Donette took Vicky's death very hard and could not speak her name for 2 years. We finally had a talk and I told her we had to say her name to keep her memory alive. She became very close to her parents, who in turn became very good friends with us. She called Vicky's parents her 'other' Mom and Dad. This meant so much to them, and they loved her, like they loved Vicky. Donette knew she could never replace Vicky, but felt this would help them to have some connection as to how she would have grown. Donette continued on through high school, taking a wide variety of classes to get a taste of everything. She knew she wanted to join the military after school, so to prepare for that she took weight lifting class. She was the first girl in her school to ever take the class and the only girl in the class. This proved to be an interesting class, to say the least. She did well in it and was accepted by the guys with out any problems. A few days before her graduation from high school she was sworn into the Missouri Army National Guard. She decided to go with the Guard because she could continue with other things she wanted to do, and still have a military life. She love our country and she loved the American flag, and was very proud of both. She did her Basic Training at Ft. Dix, New Jersey and her AIT, at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona, from 11/1989-4/1990. Her M.O.S. (military occupation)was, Intelligence Analysis. She was assigned to: HHC 635th Aviation Group in Jefferson City, Missouri, until it disbanded in 1993. She then transfered to the 220th Engineering Company (CSE) in Festus, Missouri of which she was still a member at her death. During all this time in-between, she went to school and recieved a A.A.S.CAD Technoloy (computer aided drafter). She had also went to school for Graphic Arts, and Leadership Development. Donette had just enlisted for another hitch in the Guard and was planning on getting into more work with the D.E.A.,(drug enforcement agency). This was something she was very serious about, because she hated what drugs and alcohol were doing to our country and the people in it. She knew to well what tragedies they caused. In Feb. of 1992 she lost another close friend, Jenny , who was hit head on by a repeat DUI offender and she was killed. Then in August of 1992, another friend and fellow soldier, Mike, was riding with someone who had been drinking and lost control of his car, Mike died too. In June of 1995 while Donette was on 5 weeks of volunteer flood duty, a woman that was drunk, and on drugs broke through the barricades and hit the military truck Donette and another soldier were in, while on duty. They both recieved injuries, and they both continued on with their duty on crutches. Donette had just gotten her own place, had a really good job, loved what she was doing with her life, and had many more plans for the future. She was always doing for other people and never asked for anything in return. She was the most loving, sensitive, caring person there was. Animals and nature were her world, along with books and poetry. She could lose herself in a book faster than anyone I knew. Words amazed her, and lines fascinated her, (she like to draw). We are so proud of everything that Donette did in her short life, and could not have asked for a better child, or sister. She was the center of our family, the one with all the pranks, and the jokes. Meal time at our house was always full of laughter. She loved her family and loved to help her sisters and brother. She did not want to die yet, she had so much more to give to life. Donette touched many lives, and made friends with so many. Her death, as her life, left a lasting impression on everyone she knew. She will never be forgotten, and she will be loved forever.......... |
