Donna Jean Martin

Donna Jean Martin

Aug. 11, 1928 - July 25, 2014

HASTINGS, Neb. -- Former Stratton resident Donna Jean Martin, 85, died Friday, July 25, 2014, at Mary Lanning Healthcare, Hastings, Nebraska.

Services will be Tuesday, July 29, 2014, 2:30 p.m. at Community United Methodist Church of Stratton, Nebraska, with Pastor Sheila Taylor officiating. Burial will be in Rosehill Cemetery, Stratton. Memorials may be given to the Little House Museum.

Visitation will be one hour prior to services at the church. Benkelman Memorial Chapel, Benkelman, Nebraska and Livingston Butler Volland Funeral Home and Cremation Center, Hastings, are serving the family.

Donna Jean was born Aug. 11, 1928, in Stratton, Nebraska, to Harry and Irene L. (Cobb) Harper. She graduated from Stratton High School, received her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Kearney State Teachers College in the 1960s, and received her master's degree in elementary education from University of Nebraska Kearney in the early 1970s.

Donna Jean married Melvin C. Martin in August 1947; they later divorced. She was an elementary teacher and a member of Community United Methodist Church of Stratton, Library Board, Little House Museum Board, and Grandview Retirement Center Board. Donna Jean moved to Hastings in October 2012 from Stratton.

Donna Jean was preceded in death by her parents and siblings, Dolores Harper, Verna L. Larson and William H. Harper.

Survivors include daughters and son-in-law, Teresa Poole of Westminster, Colorado, Linda and Ken Baysinger of Oregon City, Oregon, son and daughter-in-law, Ken and Diane Martin of Hastings, Nebraska; seven grandchildren and 16 grandchildren.