Doerksen – Donna Doerksen, a most wonderful mother, sister, friend, and life partner of Gerry Doerksen for 36 years, completed her earthly journey in their Calgary home on Jan 6, 2021. She lived each day to the fullest and is now without pain. Donna was born Feb 19, 1963 in Brooks, AB to Henry and Betty Neufeld. She grew up as a ‘prairie girl’ on their farm in Gem, AB and enjoyed a loving family where stories, sharing and laughter abounded. Donna enjoyed the great outdoors, riding horses, swimming in irrigation ditches, reading books, singing, and taking care of 4-H calves. As the oldest of 3 daughters, she did chores, drove the combine, trucks and tractors, and helped with whatever was required. While sorting cattle, she quickly learned to interpret her father’s sometimes frenzied hand signals (from ½ mile away) “not that way, the other way!”; “Not that cow, the other cow!” Donna’s upbringing taught her to contribute. Her parents’ connections with people led to active coffee times with neighbors or whoever happened by and Donna learned to easily converse with anyone, old or young; new or known. As a teenager, Donna enjoyed barrel racing and gymkhana; playing on the women’s baseball team and curling. She was active in school, church, and community, often on student council, organizing events and acted in several of Mrs. Babe Chris’ famous Gem plays. Donna excelled in school, enjoyed learning, became a prolific reader, and could read most books in a few hours. She graduated High School in Rosemary, AB as valedictorian and her parents were proud. She attended one year at Bethany College and then pursued a BSc. of Physical Therapy at the U of A in Edmonton. On a sunny June day in 1984, Donna married her high school sweetheart, Gerry Doerksen. They partnered together, learning to work, play, travel and collaborate in all they did. After university, Donna took on a sole charge Physical Therapist position at the Bassano Hospital. She took up golf, joined the women’s league and learned the rules by becoming the women’s handicap coordinator. Donna also practiced physical therapy in Red Deer, Lacombe and with the Palliative Home Care team in Edmonton. She valued her coworkers and admired them as professionals and friends. In 1997, they moved to Calgary and Donna decided to retire from physiotherapy so she could care for her young family. Donna enjoyed walking Graham and Nicole to school; meeting their friends; building relationships with other parents, neighbors, and teachers. She joined the parent council and helped in classrooms as needed. Donna enjoyed gardening so she renovated their backyard and at some point, had over 60 varieties of hostas. She was inspired by the new growth in spring and developed a strong disdain for slugs. Her apple tree was the source of many pies and apple crisps shared with neighbors, friends, and family. Donna enjoyed extending hospitality and frequently hosted groups. After the home renovation in 2017, Donna often hosted groups between 10 to 50 in their home with ease. Donna was challenged with skull-based brain tumors and had 7 tumors removed over the years. Donna was optimistic and would visit with her surgeons and bring them her homemade fudge before surgery (and for recovery room staff). In recent years, Donna lived with a lot of pain, but she was stoic, always more concerned with the well-being of those around her than herself. Donna didn’t view her interaction with cancer as a fight. Her strong faith in God helped her to accept it and live above it. She realized that she had limited control over health, but she could choose how she reacted. She chose to be joyful for all the blessings she had. Donna engaged a network of hundreds of people (maybe more) from around the world who were inspired to think of, pray for and support her along the way. She was thankful for her many friends and she will be remembered for her grateful demeanor, her practice of enjoying life and building memories. Donna’s focus on making memories motivated many family trips to destinations in Canada, the USA, Egypt, Europe and earlier times Australia, New Zealand and Fiji. She enjoyed learning how others lived and gaining a new appreciation for the complexities of God’s world. Each time she came back, Donna was grateful for the place she called home. Donna will be greatly missed by her husband, Gerry; her son, Graham; her daughter, Nicole; her sisters, Jan Lepp (Steve) and Joanne Cundict (Mark); Gerry’s father, Jake and siblings, Ken (Sharon), Arno (Wanda), Cheryl Hildebrand (John), Tim (Yvonne), her uncles, aunts, cousins, nephews, nieces, friends and all who enjoyed hospitality in her home. Donna was predeceased by her parents, Henry and Betty Neufeld, in 2015 and several uncles and aunts. We would like to thank the countless number of doctors and medical staff who gracefully provided Donna with wonderful care. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to Camp Evergreen, https://www.camp-evergreen.com/donate where Graham and Nicole spent a lot of time growing, learning, building life skills and having fun. Or a charity of your choice. A Family Graveside was held in the Gem Cemetery on Friday, January 8. Due to Covid-19 a Family Service will be held on Saturday, January 23 at 11:00 AM, please check Smith Funeral Home’s website www.sfh.ca for a livestream link for the Memorial Event. Please refer to Donna Doerksen’ obituary starting at 10:45 AM.
Funeral arrangements entrusted to:
SMITH FUNERAL HOME LTD. AND CREMATORIUM
BROOKS, ALBERTA
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