Memorials › Vernon "Carrol" Donner

Vernon "Carrol" Donner

16 Nov 1922 – 8 Jan 2017

Birth	16 Nov 1922
Death	8 Jan 2017
Cemetery	Cottonwood Cemetery Burwell , Garfield County , Nebraska , USA
Added by	Kathy Burgess Burr on 08 Sep 2019
FaG	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175332101

Bio

Vernon Carrol Donner was born in rural Greeley County Nebraska to Vern and Nanna (Johnson) Donner on November 16, 1922. He passed away peacefully at his home in Peoria, Arizona, on January 8, 2017. As an infant, V. Carrol Donner was moved to the Perry Donner homestead in the old Rosehill School District in Garfield County, near Burwell. He reached adulthood on several other ranches in Garfield county, mostly along the Cedar River in eastern Garfield County. One place of historical note was old Gables, which early on, had been a Nebraska Post Office. Carrol graduated from Ericson Rural High School, Ericson, Nebraska, in May 1940. He then taught their neighboring John Horwart rural school for two terms and worked as a farmhand until being drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944 for military service, in WWII. On December 9, 1944 Carrol married Sarah Craven before County Judge Ben Rose in Burwell. Sarah, a school teacher by then, later gave up her school and went to Tyler, Texas while he 'endured' Infantry Basic Training at Camp Fannin. After completion of Basic Training, Carrol was transported, along with a few thousand other troops, to San Francisco then on to Manilla, P.I. arriving about July 1, 1945. By then, things were secure and he settled in for his clerical duties at a Replacement Depot where he completed his military service. He was discharged in April, 1946. Back in Burwell, Carrol worked a year in the 3-county AAA office, then moved to Humphrey, Nebraska, where he began a30 year Federal Civil Service career, beginning with USDA Soil Conservation Service, then transferred to the Department of Interior, U S Fish and Wildlife Service. He started at the Valentine National Wildlife Refuge, was transferred to Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge, Fallon Nevada in 1958; then transferred to Alamosa NWR, Alamosa, Colorado January, 1967; finally in 1968, he transferred to his final post at the brand new Arapaho National Wildlife Refuge in Walden, Colorado. Carrol and Sarah retired and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1978. Carrol enjoyed his retirement and hunted elk and moose with son Aaron, a resident of Wyoming. He and Sarah enjoyed Colorado but eventually moved back home to Burwell. In 1993, Sarah passed away suddenly and unexpectedly. Carrol soon met another original Burwell girl, Wilma Mathauser Rees, at the time living in Denver. Wilma and Carrol married in 1996 and enjoyed 21 great years together. Wilma and Carrol enjoyed trips to Mexico where they set up a winter getaway. They traveled in their motor home to visit friends and relatives around the country, attended the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta numerous times, loved many fun times in the Sun City Arizona adult community and enjoyed the many festive family gatherings of their combined families, both in Colorado and Arizona. Carrol is survived by: his wife, Wilma Rees; daughter, Pamela Donner, and her husband Glenn Murray; son, Aaron Donner and his companion, Valerie Reed; grandchildren Lee (Jodi) Donner, Michaun (Lou) Smathers, Jennifer (Eric) Tiefenthaler; great-grandchildren Maddie, Bergen, Lauren and Aiden; stepchildren, Mandy Cooley, Julie Cooley, Ruby Mason, Joann Fisher, Charlie Shafton, and Jim Rees. Carrol was preceded in death by: sister, Lois Simon, and is survived by sisters Eunice Meuret and Erlyn Mattley, along with many other beloved family members and friends all around the United States. Celebration of Life on January 19, 2017 at Hitchcock Funeral Home in Burwell, Nebraska. Burial at Cottonwood Cemetery in Burwell. Obituary information from Hitchcock Funeral Home.

Photos

Family

Parents

Spouse

Siblings

Export GEDCOM

This person only · Entire connected family