A Celebration of Life for 85-year old Donna Wilson of North Platte, NE, formerly of Gordon and Rushville, NE, will be Friday, August 5th, 2020 at 12:30 CT at Adams & Swanson Funeral Home in North Platte.
There will be a presentation by the Nurses Honor Guard as part of the service.
For those who are unable to attend in person, the service will be livestreamed at www.adamsswanson.com.
Graveside services will follow at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, NE, with Pastors Ben and Susan Sukraw officiating.Â
Visitation and book signing will be Thurs, August 4th, from noon-7:00 CT, also at Adams & Swanson Funeral Home in North Platte.
Memorial donations may be made to Hope Embraced, P.O. Box 581, North Platte, NE 69103.
Online condolences may be shared at www.adamsswanson.com.
Much thanks to Adams & Swanson Funeral Home for handling the arrangements
Donna Jeanne Aspinall Wilson was born in Gordon on August 21, 1936, to Tom Aspinall and Mary Allie (Simms) Aspinall and passed from this life to the next on July 13, 2022 at her home with family.
Donna graduated from Gordon High School with the class of 1954, then attended nursing school. She worked as a nurse for 41 years before retiring in 1998 to put her years of nursing to use in another – helping take care of grandchildren so their parents could do ministry.
During her years of nursing, Donna worked in Gordon; Cheyenne, WY; Scottsbluff, NE; Lincoln, NE; Rushville, NE; Pine Ridge, SD; and Chadron, NE.
She worked in almost every area of nursing from pediatrics to geriatrics, taught in the University of Nebraska Medical Center School of Nursing in Scottsbluff for 12 years, and was Director of Nursing at many long-term care facilities.
She lived out the Florence Nightingale pledge to faithfully carry out her profession, to assist the physician, and devote herself to the welfare of those committed to her care.
Donna married Ernie Wilson in 1967 and to this union were born 3 children: Susan, Randy Scott, and Sandra. Ernie passed away in July of 1978, leaving Donna to raise her children with the help of her family.
As in nursing, Donna was devoted to those in her care. She sacrificed much to make sure her three kids succeeded in the areas God gifted them in.
She attended speech, theater, band, and sporting activities as often as she could. She stayed up late nights and typed speeches for contests. She arranged for tutoring where needed and often joined with her mother to help in studying school work at home.
Donna helped pay for college – whatever scholarships didn’t – and continued to do all those things for her grandchildren as well.
She videotaped many of their school and church programs, attended sports events and dance recitals, and when distance or her health didn’t allow her to be there in person anymore, she learned how to use the internet to her advantage to watch many of their events.
That didn’t end once her children were adults. She would come help clean, repair, build, watch kids, cook – whatever was needed, she stepped in and did. This did not just happen in her family; many times she would reach out and help others in the same way.
Donna spent the last 24 years living with her son in North Platte, traveling, when her health would allow, to visit family.
Donna was a prayer warrior and spent many hours in prayer after her husband died as she raised her family – writing down many of those prayers in notebooks. Her prayers continued for grandchildren and she extended them into the community as a member of the Hope Embraced prayer team.
Her relationship with Jesus was such that her children and grandchildren still comment on how her life and character helped them see and understand who Jesus is.
Donna attended the Presbyterian church in Gordon growing up and later the Methodist churches in Clinton and Rushville before being part of the Parkview Nazarene Church and the Salvation Army Church in North Platte.
Donna was a member of the Lone Willow Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution for 30-plus years and was interested in her family history. She passed that love and curiosity on to her children and grandchildren. Donna was honored in 1979 as an alumni of 4-H in Sheridan County.
She is survived by sisters, Doris Chaney of Lincoln, and Peggy Reimann (Ray) of Hay Springs; her children Susan (Joe) Sukraw of North Platte, Randy Scott, of North Platte, and Sandra (Steve) Hurst, of Alva, FL,
Donna is also survived by grandchildren Joshua Sukraw of Kansas City, MO, Ben (Jaime) Sukraw of Lincoln, Hannah (William) Lewis of Moss Point, MS, Nathan (Faith) Sukraw of St. Augustine, FL, and Alianna Hurst of Alva, FL, and great-grandson Kanaan Sukraw (and baby brother due in December) of Lincoln, as well as many nieces, nephews, great-nieces, great-nephews, cousins, and aunts that were an important part of Donna’s life.
Donna was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, her brother Gary Aspinall, and nephews Bret Reimann and Michael Chaney.