Obituary

Donna (Moore) Stewart, resident at The Oasis of Fellowship Square in Surprise, Arizona passed away peacefully in her sleep on August 25, 2022 at the age of 82 due to complications from a prolonged illness with Frontal/Temporal Dementia diagnosed in 2012.

She is survived by her husband of 60 years, Donald M Stewart, of Surprise, Arizona and two sons, J Timothy Stewart (Lynn) of McCordsville, Indiana and Michael C Stewart (Katie) of Tucson, Arizona. She is also survived by one Grandchild, Kaeden Stewart of McCordsville, Indiana, along with extended family and dear friends.

Donna-Alice Moore was born in Bellows Falls, VT on June 10, 1940 but grew up in North Adams, Massachusetts. She attended college at Illinois College in Jacksonville, Illinois, where she met her husband, Donald Stewart. They were married in North Adams, MA on June 10, 1962.

Donna was a teacher at heart and for over 40 years and across three states, children were blessed to learn from her contagious spirit and enthusiasm for school and life. She started her teaching career in Oberlin, Ohio where her husband was enrolled in seminary.

While her husband was serving a larger parish church in Merom, IN, their oldest son James Timothy was born in 1966. Her teaching career continued on in Towanda, IL while Donald was serving a church in Normal. Their lives took them to Fairborn, OH in 1969 as Donald became an organizing pastor for a local church and Donna began teaching within the Fairborn school system. Michael Charles, their second son, was born two years later in 1971.

Donna taught in Fairborn from 1969 until her retirement in 1999, teaching mostly First Grade at the former Palmer-South Elementary School. She was honored to have some of her first generation of students request her as a teacher for their own children. Working with children and enriching their lives was her passion and she enjoyed teaching all subjects but bringing Science to life to the classroom was a particular favorite. She routinely sought out vacant birds’ nests, praying mantises and other nature items to bring into her classroom to the delight of children.

She was a dedicated and creative classroom teacher whose legacy was sharing the joy for learning and preparing students to live productive and meaningful lives. Donna enjoyed teaching first grade for so many reasons but especially because she loved seeing the world open up to children as they learned to read. After Donna retired from teaching in OH she continued to volunteer in the Surprise, Arizona school system working with gifted students until unable to do so any longer in 2012.

Donna also assisted her husband by helping develop and maintain the Christian Education programs of the two churches he served the Dayton area of the Miami Presbytery: Cana Presbyterian Church of Fairborn, Ohio and Bath Presbyterian Church of Huber Heights, Ohio.

A people person, Donna enjoyed the company of others and bringing others together making friends wherever she went. She was the type of person one instinctively liked and who always had time for a kind word or a helping hand. Her beautiful smile, her cheerfulness and her helpfulness will be missed by all who knew her. And all who knew her are thankful to have had her in their lives.

She had requested that her brain be donated to the UCLA Brain Bank for FTD research, and that her body by cremated. A Memorial Service is being planned for sometime this fall at Bath Presbyterian Church of Huber Heights, Ohio, where her ashes are to be scattered.