Donna Stater

6/21/1951 — 3/19/2017

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Donna passed away peacefully March 19, 2017, at her home in Lewiston.

Donna Mae Statler was born June 21, 1951, in Richmond, Ind., to Hubert and Iva (Phenis) Burelison. Her father's sister, her aunt Bettie Burelison Brant, was on her first day of work as a nurse's aide in delivery and helped to deliver her and took good care of Donna's mom. Donna joined a large family already filled with her father's children and her mother's children from previous marriages.

Donna lived in four states by the time she was finishing third grade, and the family moved into Kankakee, Ill. She worked at St. Mary's Hospital as a teen, then at the coupon sorting tables for General Mills in Kankakee.

Donna married Dave Statler and they had one daughter, Sarah. She was proud to have married a college man, and in 1970 the Statler family moved to Missoula, Mont., where Donna worked at the University of Montana kitchen, allowing her husband to graduate college in 1972.

Donna divorced in 1982 while living in Orofino and moved to Lewiston, where she soon started college at Lewis-Clark State College and Sarah started ninth grade. Donna graduated from college with a degree in special education and was accepted into the Peace Corps. In July 1989, Donna moved to Belize, completed six weeks of training, then swore in to serve her country as a Peace Corps volunteer for two years in Lucky Strike Village in Belize as a teacher trainer. She soon fit into the village, making friends and learning about the new culture. Though she left Belize in 1991, she continued to return many times to visit friends. Her two years in Belize changed her life.

Before she left for Belize, during her college years, she accepted a job with the Northwest Children's Home. When she returned to Lewiston in 1991, she was offered a job teaching at Hopper House, one of the units at the home. She never dreamed she would enjoy working with teen boys but soon fell into a routine and spent her final years of teaching, at Hopper House.

When Donna returned to Lewiston in 1991, it was just in time to meet her granddaughter, Tiffany Statler. Donna, Sarah and Tiffany loved to travel and took many trips all over the U.S. One time they went all the way to the Mississippi coast, and several 5,000-mile trips followed. One long trip Donna and Sarah took was all the way back to West Virginia where her grandmother, Grace Scruggs Phenis, was born.

They often visited friends Donna had made while serving in the Peace Corps in Belize. As a matter of fact, Donna became the "secretary" for the group and spent time keeping everyone connected, initially with letters to all and eventually with email and Facebook.

Just a year before she retired from teaching, she married Brian Hensley on March 1, 2001 (National Peace Corps Day). They had been together for 18 years at this time. They were settled into Lewiston and again her dream came true - to stay home and enjoy life.

Donna and Brian loved to travel and took many trips around the states and a special trip to Ireland in 2011. They flew to Ireland for a month of travel and some family research. Donna's fraternal grandmother was a McGuire, and she was so excited to travel with the family back to Northern Ireland and find the Maguire Castle, where it all started.

Brian had seen the world, but Donna wanted him to see the states, so upon Brian's retirement from the Forest Service, they started to travel within the states. From Donna's brother in Florida, to Peace Corps friends in Santa Fe, N.M., and more - they enjoyed many 5,000-mile trips around the states.

One year they went to Canada to see Niagara Falls, upstate New York, on what Brian called the Dead Presidents Tour, as they saw presidential libraries and burial places and homes.

Donna was always interested in the family tree as Sarah's kindergarten teacher in Alexandria, Va., asked that Sarah build a family tree. Donna knew little more than her grandparents, and while talking with her father, she realized that the Burelison line was not traced back as far as her great-grandparents. This started her on a journey that never ended. No one realizes the money, time and energy she spent, building all the family trees. Sadly, she never found her great-great-fraternal grandparents, but many believe they have to be connected to the Burlison/Burleson families out of Texas. Who knows?

Donna had an affinity for staying in touch and sent out hundreds of annual letters and stayed connected with elementary friends from Kankakee, Ill., and friends in all the states she had lived. Her home was always a welcome place for friends and family, and she has many guest books filled with lovely notes to prove it. Her door was always open, and people loved to spend a few days in Lewiston with Donna and Brian.

Many family members preceded her in death: parents Hubert (1987) and Iva Burelison (2012); brother Bob Burelison (2010); twin sisters Bonnie Lou and Connie Sue (1953); older sister Phyllis Fraker (2001); younger sister Donella Stone (2013); Donna's brother, Glen Burelison, who passed in 2016; as well as many other family members and close friends, too many to mention but not to be forgotten.

In Lewiston she leaves husband Brian Hensley; daughter Sarah Statler; and granddaughter Tiffany Statler. A special daughter in Coeur d'Alene, Tami Fruin, and her family survives. Also surviving are siblings Larry, Anita, Susie, Tom, Duane (Toby); two stepbrothers; and two very special aunts and one uncle.

In 1995, Donna started the Donna Statler Scholarship Fund at the high school in the village where she lived while serving in Belize. Donations would be appreciated. Checks can be made to King's College, with DSSF placed at the bottom of the check and mailed with an airmail stamp to King's College, P.O. Box 290, Belize City, Belize, Central America.

Please add a note as to how you know Donna and the school secretary will see that you get a receipt. These students pay a large fee in order to attend high school. Donna would be happy if you just smiled at someone today and went out of your way to make a difference in this world. No service was requested - spend a day with someone who needs you.

Peace, everyone. Rest in peace, Donna.

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