Donna C. Jett

Donna Clarisse Burke was born on September 29, 1939 in Compton, California to John & Frances Burke. She was welcomed home on June 17, 2021.

When she was around a year old, her family moved back to Follett, TX, so most of her childhood was spent on their farm outside of Follett with her older brother, Dick, and her younger siblings Bonnie, Carolyn & Russ. It was at that farm that she developed an incredible work ethic at a young age because she milked cows & fed chickens every day. She would always tell us how she wasn’t fond of the roosters because they would chase her & try to peck her. She also learned how to sew by the age of 9 so that she could make sure all of her brothers & sisters had clothes. Donna was the caretaker of her younger siblings, too, always making sure they were dressed, made it to school on time, and did what they were supposed to do. Bonnie said that Donna was more like a mother to her than a sister.

She attended school in Follett, where she and her siblings had to walk quite a distance each day to & from school. When she was 14, she got a job working at Rip’s Cafe with her best friend Shirley, who would later go on to become her sister-in-law. It was also at Rip’s where she met Doug and fell in love.

On June 16, 1956, Donna was united in marriage to Douglas Ray Jett. He was 8 years older than her, 24 at the time, but the age gap didn’t matter because they loved each other deeply. They kept letters that they wrote to each other when Doug would leave each summer to go harvest and it would leave them both missing each other terribly.

Their first child, Debra Ann, was born in June of 1957. In June of 1958 the word “grief” became a reality when their second daughter, Bonnie Carol, was born prematurely and God took her home a short time later. In November of 1959, the family of 3 moved to Springfield and a new baby was on the way. Donald Ray was born in January of 1960.

Debbie & Donnie will always remember spending hours upon hours camping at the lake with their parents. They would leave the minute they were off work on Friday and come back late at night on Sunday, and this continued for all of their childhood. They learned to ski at early ages because skiing was something that Doug & Donna also did.

Water skiing was not the only hobby that Donna had. She was also a league bowler, a top-notch cook, and could play just about every card game under the sun. She was a Sunday School teacher, Brownies leader with Debbie, Cub Scout leader with Donnie, involved in 4-H and never once missed a sporting event, play, award ceremony, concert or anything that her kids or grandkids were involved in.

Even though Donna was involved in so many extracurricular activities, she still had several jobs. In her early married life, she was an entrepreneur, building a couple of businesses from the ground up. She started a shoe store called the Window Box, which she eventually sold to the people who called it Anderson’s Shoe Store. She also had a business where she did upholstery & made draperies, but eventually sold that business as well. Then she worked at Jett Hardware for several years as a secretary/bookkeeper and while she was there, she got her GED. College was the next step for Donna, and in the early 70s she enrolled in Lamar Community College where she got her degree in business/accounting. She started work at Springfield School District in December 1976 where she was the business manager until her husband was diagnosed with cancer in August 1998, over 20 years later. She took an early retirement so that she could be with him. During the time she was the business manager at the school, she was also doing all of the bookkeeping and accounting for Jett Construction. She continued doing that even up until the end of her life.

When grandchildren came along, Donna was over-the-moon in love with them all. Donnell LaNae was her first in 1985, followed shortly by Dillon Ray in 1987, Dustin Lee in 1989, Trista Faye in 1990 and then the last grandkid, Donald Drew came in 1994. They could do no wrong! To her grandchildren, Nanna’s house was a magical place. It was a place they could go to have tea parties, play dress up, build clubhouses, eat snacks & just enjoy each other. There were many times that they would all stay the night with Nanna & Poppop and when they would start fighting, she would say, “I’m never going to have all of you over here at the same time again!” And then the next weekend would come and, inevitably, we would all be together again. She couldn’t get enough of her grandkids, and she was so very proud of each of them.

By the time her great grandchildren arrived, her health was declining, but that didn’t stop her from being around them. Nanna’s lap was where all of the great grandkids wanted to be. She always made sure to sit in a big recliner so she could fit as many in her lap as she could at a time. Raegan was the one great granddaughter who lived in Springfield, and Donna was so thankful to be able to keep Rae during the day after she was born until she started school. Once school started, Raegan still spent a lot of time at Nanna’s house after school & then doing online school during COVID. They had a very special bond.

She was a whiz in the kitchen. She absolutely loved serving meals to her kids, grandkids, and eventually great grandkids… and of course, all of her adopted ones too. Serving food was her love language. You never left her house hungry. It was hot spot for lunch when her kids & grand kids were in high school because she made the BEST meals. There were usually several extra there eating besides her own kids, and she encouraged them to invite them all over.

Donna was like a mom & grandmother to many, and multiple people besides her grandchildren called her “Nanna.” She deeply loved all of her nieces & nephews and all of their children, just as if they were her very own. Even nieces & nephews would go on vacations with them or come spend summers at their house. Her door was always open, and she welcomed anyone & everyone in to share a cup of coffee & some stories. She would do anything she could to help people out who came into her life.

She not only had many friends that she got to see face-to-face, but she also had numerous online friends that she met through social media & gaming. No matter where she went, she was touching lives, and when she got on a computer, that did not change with the digital world. Her reach just kept growing. She loved them all as if they lived right next door to her and would’ve given anything to be able to meet them all in person.

Her relationship with God was strong and something she passed down through the generations. She was definitely ready to meet Jesus and left an incredible legacy here on Earth. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says “Three things will last forever—faith, hope & love—and the greatest of these is love.” And boy, did she ever know how to love.

Donna was preceded in death by her husband, Doug Jett; parents, John & Frances Burke; infant daughter, Bonnie Carol; grandson, Dillon Jett; father & mother-in-law Dudley & Minnie Jett; sister, Carolyn Wright; and brother, Dick Burke.

She leaves to mourn her passing her children, Debbie (Don) Auburger of Springfield & Don (Mitzi) Jett of Springfield; grandchildren, Donnell (Ryan) Gray of Amarillo, Dustin (Tiffany) Hume of Springfield, Trista Jett of Springfield, & Drew Auburger of Springfield; great grandchildren, Bricion Gray, Finley Hume, Skyler Gray, Raegan Jett, Brylynn Hume, Linda Gray & Ellie Gray; sister, Bonnie (Jim) Bostwick of Booker, TX; brother, Russ (Dorothy) Burk