1932
Donna
2015
Donna Jean Mann
December 21, 1932 — June 29, 2015
Donna Jean Mann, 82, of Bainbridge, Georgia, passed away Monday, June 29, 2015, at Memorial Hospital in Bainbridge, Georgia.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, September 26, 2015, at Esterdahl Mortuary and Crematory, Ltd., 6601 38th Avenue, Moline. Per her wishes, cremation rites have been accorded and inurnment will be at Moline Memorial Park.
Memorial donations may be made to Camp Kesem at Augustana College via the Sigma Kappa Tau sorority or to YouthHope, a ministry of Christian Friendliness.
Donna Jean was born December 21, 1932, in Moline, Illinois, the daughter of Carl Brenstrom and Edna Maybelle Maurus Brenstrom. As an active and outgoing youth she was involved in many school and community activities. And as a young woman she caught the eye of the Miss Moline beauty pageant judges... along with the admiration of a group of Army soldiers stationed in Korea in 1951 who followed the pageant and selected her from the contestants as their "Miss Butchie", which was the name of their air strip.
Donna Jean earned a bachelor's degree in social work from Augustana College where she was on the cheerleading squad and the President of the Alumnae Chapter of the Kappa Tau sorority (Sigma Kappa Tau). Upon graduation from Augustana, she worked as a psychiatric social worker at East Moline State Hospital, and later at Anna State Hospital in Southern Illinois.
Donna Jean's passion for community causes and her background in social work led her to support the Freedom Riders in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and assisting low-income residents of Carrboro, North Carolina. She continued to lend her voice to social causes upon moving to Tallahassee, Florida in the late 1960's by volunteering with organizations such as the Human Resources Clearinghouse. As a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee-where her contralto voice resonated in the choir-she served in a church-sponsored prison ministry, Meals-On-Wheels, and Church Women United. She was also one of the charter signatories of the United Church in Tallahassee.
Never one to shy away from a stage, Donna Jean was in the processional of the first annual Springtime Tallahassee parade. As a life-long fan of sports, she was always in the stands of Florida State University and Leon High School athletics... and you could often hear her cheering loudly in the stands of little league games, church basketball games, and Tallahassee Swim Team meets.
Survivors include her children, Jon Rubino of Madison, Wisconsin, Mark Rubino and his wife, Jane (Stralow), of Birmingham, Alabama and Robin Rubino Whitfield and her husband, George, of Colquitt, Georgia; her sister Diane Knapp and Brother-in-Law Bob Knapp of Colorado Springs, Colorado; her grandchildren, Marcia and husband Casey Godfrey, Josh Van Zant, Arabella Rubino, Gianna Rubino, Scott and Kayla Whitfield, Phillip and Haley Whitfield, Nicholas Whitfield and Sarah Whitfield; and her great-grandchildren, John Michael Whitfield and Jensyn Abel Whitfield.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jim Mann.
Memories may be shared online at esterdahl.com.
A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, September 26, 2015, at Esterdahl Mortuary and Crematory, Ltd., 6601 38th Avenue, Moline. Per her wishes, cremation rites have been accorded and inurnment will be at Moline Memorial Park.
Memorial donations may be made to Camp Kesem at Augustana College via the Sigma Kappa Tau sorority or to YouthHope, a ministry of Christian Friendliness.
Donna Jean was born December 21, 1932, in Moline, Illinois, the daughter of Carl Brenstrom and Edna Maybelle Maurus Brenstrom. As an active and outgoing youth she was involved in many school and community activities. And as a young woman she caught the eye of the Miss Moline beauty pageant judges... along with the admiration of a group of Army soldiers stationed in Korea in 1951 who followed the pageant and selected her from the contestants as their "Miss Butchie", which was the name of their air strip.
Donna Jean earned a bachelor's degree in social work from Augustana College where she was on the cheerleading squad and the President of the Alumnae Chapter of the Kappa Tau sorority (Sigma Kappa Tau). Upon graduation from Augustana, she worked as a psychiatric social worker at East Moline State Hospital, and later at Anna State Hospital in Southern Illinois.
Donna Jean's passion for community causes and her background in social work led her to support the Freedom Riders in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's and assisting low-income residents of Carrboro, North Carolina. She continued to lend her voice to social causes upon moving to Tallahassee, Florida in the late 1960's by volunteering with organizations such as the Human Resources Clearinghouse. As a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church in Tallahassee-where her contralto voice resonated in the choir-she served in a church-sponsored prison ministry, Meals-On-Wheels, and Church Women United. She was also one of the charter signatories of the United Church in Tallahassee.
Never one to shy away from a stage, Donna Jean was in the processional of the first annual Springtime Tallahassee parade. As a life-long fan of sports, she was always in the stands of Florida State University and Leon High School athletics... and you could often hear her cheering loudly in the stands of little league games, church basketball games, and Tallahassee Swim Team meets.
Survivors include her children, Jon Rubino of Madison, Wisconsin, Mark Rubino and his wife, Jane (Stralow), of Birmingham, Alabama and Robin Rubino Whitfield and her husband, George, of Colquitt, Georgia; her sister Diane Knapp and Brother-in-Law Bob Knapp of Colorado Springs, Colorado; her grandchildren, Marcia and husband Casey Godfrey, Josh Van Zant, Arabella Rubino, Gianna Rubino, Scott and Kayla Whitfield, Phillip and Haley Whitfield, Nicholas Whitfield and Sarah Whitfield; and her great-grandchildren, John Michael Whitfield and Jensyn Abel Whitfield.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Jim Mann.
Memories may be shared online at esterdahl.com.
Service Details
Saturday, September 26th, 2015, 11:00am, Esterdahl Mortuary & Crematory
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