Donna P. Carlson

Born March 6^th, 1927, Died April 18, 2015

A huge vacuum has been created for loved ones and friends by her passing Saturday evening.  Since October, when she was hospitalized for pseudo gout (calcium crystals in her left knee) an odyssey began of 3 surgeries, the last of which removed her knee and placed a titanium rod from her hip to her ankle. In between, she suffered a leg broken above the surgical site which could not be treated until the surgical wound had healed sufficiently to warrant a cast. We mention this only to help everyone appreciate the horrific pain and trauma she endured so courageously for so long.

Mother, raised in Dayton, Idaho lived virtually all her married life in Richmond, Utah with Victor LaMarr Carlson who she married on June 15, 1946, later sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in September 1951.  She loved her boys! Richard and Wayne born only eleven months apart and Monte and Morgan born 20 months apart although 8 and 10 years after Richard. Over the years dad and mother became less sure which memories related to which pair. She always wanted a girl in her fraternity house but had to wait for daughter in laws to fill the void. Her loving daughter in laws are Donna Spackman, Lois Suisse, Denise Rasmussen, and Karen Thomson. After that her brood of 22 grandchildren included 13 girls and 9 boys, evening up the gender gap. Since then another 44 great grandchildren and 3 great-great grandchildren have added eternal arrows to her quiver.  Since her love, LaMarr, died over seven years ago she has never been whole.  She told us: “It is not that I miss him; I need him!” Oh the joy of eternal reunions.

She was the last surviving child of Moroni and Ida Phillips’ 6 children, who lived to adulthood. Her elder brothers, elder sister and younger sister left her to be the “last leaf on the tree”.  As part of Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation, her perspectives were molded by living through the great depression which made her part of the “make do, use up, and wear out” generation. And, living through the anxieties of World War II with loved brothers in harm’s way engendered gratitude for freedom, war’s end, and home comings.

She was one of the sweetest and cutest of the Big Band era. She loved to dance, especially the jitter-bug.  She met dad at a dance, where he said that he loved her the first time he saw her and knew that he would marry her- if he could win her heart. Mother said that he was a good dancer, was handsome but that she thought he a little full of himself.  Love blossomed never to diminish but to grow ever deeper, more profound, and eternal. President David O. McKay said that the best gift a man could give his children is to love their mother. That being the case, our gift is incomprehensible.

Mother was almost beyond faith in her testimony of Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost and the restoration of the gospel as the providers and means of The Plan of Happiness. It was her fervent prayer that all her loved ones will live so as to allow us all to be together as an eternal family surrounded by dear friends.

How does one describe Donna P. Carlson? How does one describe a person defined by her love and devotion to family and friends? Loving, humble, modest, Christ like? Yes. Stubborn, of course. Understated sense of humor, uh huh.   Just the right touch of feminine attitude, oh yeah. Most of us who knew her well would describe her with superlatives – to which she would highly object. She was often quoted as saying to loved ones and friends who had died: “Way to go!” And, to mother we say: “Way to go!”

Her funeral will be at the Richmond Stake Center at 135 West Main Street in Richmond.  We will have a viewing Friday evening from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the stake center and from 10:00 to 11:30 on Saturday also at the stake center. The family prayer will be at 11:30 and the funeral will start at 12:00 noon.  

We are most appreciative of the staff at Sunshine Terrace for their loving, attentive, and up-beat care for mother. The Hospice team has been wonderful and true advocates for mother. Our gratitude for Dr. Nash, mother’s physician of many years, goes beyond the ability to express in words. He is a gifted nurturer of body and spirit. We express our gratitude to family and friends who made mother’s final marathon a manifestation of two-way love and set the standard as a testimony to its virtues and blessings.