Donna Rae Schlender was born on December 10, 1945, to James and Alma (Ettie Johnson) Schlender in Huron, South Dakota, the youngest of seven children.
Donna grew up on a farm and went to school in Erwin, SD, moving to Brookings, SD to attend high school for her junior (1962) and senior years (1963). She attended South Dakota State University and received a two-year Secretarial Science certification before transferring to Northern University in Aberdeen, South Dakota to study Elementary Education. She graduated from Northern with her degree in 1968.
Donna met her husband, Ronald Wormke, while at Northern on a blind date to watch a horror movie at the drive-in theatre. Ron sent her a dozen roses the next day and she always said, "I guess it went OK".
They married in August 1967.
Ron and Donna taught in Sioux Falls, South Dakota before moving to Arizona and teaching on a Navajo reservation for two years. While in Arizona they loved to travel on weekends in the area, attending many shows in Las Vegas, including Frank Sinatra and Wayne Newton.
They returned to Brookings, SD in 1971 where they continued their teaching careers while continuing their pursuit of their higher education. Donna received her master's degree in education administration in 1973.
They adopted their son Shawn in 1973 and moved to Gillette, Wyoming in 1976. In 1978, they adopted their daughter Lisa.
Donna was a beloved Teacher/ Administrative Assistant in the Campbell County School District and taught multiple generations of students from the same families. She was also very active in the student teaching program at the University of Wyoming and shaped the careers of many future teachers across the state.
Donna loved to sing and often bragged that she taught one of her cousins to sing - and she turned out to be an opera singer. She was an active member of the Gillette Chamber Singers and traveled to Europe on singing tours with the group. Donna and her husband returned to and performed in the Classical Musical Festival in Austria five times on their own.
After 29 years in education, Donna retired, and moved to Colorado with Ron to be close to their grandchildren, Sarah and Braden. In Colorado, she continued to engage with her love of music and became an active member of Longmont Chorale for many years. She and Ron returned to Europe with that group to perform as well. She routinely visited her daughter in Seattle.
Donna loved classical music, flowers, Christmas lights, baking cookies, traveling and her family.
She passed away on April 18th at the Bridge Assisting Living where she had lived and been cared for the past year.
She is preceded in death by her parents, two brothers and three sisters.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Navajo Relief Fund (http:// www.nr fprograms.org) in honor of Donna Wormke.