Donna Binkly Obituary

Fond memories of Aunt Donna who is in God´s hands Rest In Peace.
Jim Henry

I have very fond memories of my Aunt Donna. She was a lady with a certain sophistication, witty, intelligent and loved her opportunity to teach the young people @ Albert. Her love of animal’s especially Cats, Her love of family. I will forever remember her compassion @ the hospital in Colorado Springs while I sat in the Chapel praying for my Grandfather Lemuel Binkly who was dying.
I needed a shoulder and Aunt Donna was there.
Jim Henry

I want you to know what Donna meant to me. I think we met in 1981 when she came to Coronado on a one-year contract. We were the only 2 females in the department and became friends immediately. Through the years we took many classes together, went to the park for lunch, walked in the park, and talked a lot.
Donna was one of the smartest women I have ever known, but she didn’t flaunt her intelligence. She was so wise and understanding. She helped me through a divorce and the raising of my children. She didn’t offer advice to me, but I asked her for advice often and the advice was always appreciated and sound. She helped me sort out my troubles and deal with them.
Donna was a kind wonderful woman, who didn’t judge people by their religion, skin color, or all those other ways stupid people judge others. I always marveled over this characteristic she had since most people her age were so judgmental. She never judged me and I am grateful for that. She was a liberal and we discussed that common characteristic that we shared. (There aren’t many liberals in this town!)
Donna loved animals, the outdoors, kids, and people. She was kind to all. I remember once, I took her down to San Isabel to see the trees turn. We had a wonderful day.
I could tell Donna anything, my darkest secrets. She helped me so much through so many dark times. I don’t know what I am going to do without her. She was my wonderful friend first, but sometimes my Mom too. The kind of Mom everyone should have in their lives.
I miss her terribly, but I am so grateful that we had so many years of friendship. Our age difference never mattered to us. I think we would have been friends no matter how old we were. We just thought alike. I hope I can be as good a person as she was. I loved her very much.

My name is Helen Holmgren and Donna and I were close friends for fifty years. When Donna, Charles and little Gail became our neighbors it took very little time for Donna and I to realize we had a lot in common. Not only were we mothers of children very close in age (Rhonda and our youngest son Donald were born after we became friends) but both were avid readers. Many pots of coffee were consumed as we watched our children play and we discussed child rearing, books and whatever came to mind. We discovered that we were both trained teachers who were on "time out" while we raised our children. Our friendship expanded to include our spouses and we spent many pleasant evenings playing cards with them and with other friends. But it was really Donna's and my friendship that was special. Fifty years is a long time but believe it or not, I cannot recall an argument or even a strong disagreement - we respected each other too much for that to happen.
We were both animal lovers especially lovers of cats and dogs. I can remember going with Donna and her two little girls to pick out and bring home their first kitten. You know how adorable and playful kittens are and Gail wanted to call it "Toyful". Donna, with her knowledge of the German language gently discouraged that (I believe Teufel-different spelling-in German means the devil.) The kitty ended up with the name of Frisky. We cried as family pets died and rejoiced as new, loving animals came into our homes. This, of course, continued until the present as our pet interests expanded to include those of our children-and in my case, grandchildren.
As the years went by, Donna and eventually I, began our teaching careers. Of course, we could not spend nearly as much time together as before, but we did take advantage of any free time-especially the summers. And now we had a new dimension to explore with each other-how best to teach. And, as happens to everyone, we grew older and eventually we both retired from teaching. Now we had time for long walks-who cared where just as long as the weather was decent and we could talk. We joined Shapemakers so we could swim together. We had always enjoyed swimming but this could go on year round. I still remember Charlie being astounded that we were going to go swimming when it was snowing and Donna reminding him that we weren't going to be in an outdoor pool. And the books! So may books that were shared. Recipes were shared-particularly for the bread we made in our breadmakers. We both tutored math with the grandfriends porgram.

Donna was an amazingly strong person. She fought hard and won the battle with her cancer. She was there to nurture and comfort Charlie through his grim battle. We all knew how lonely she was when he died but she fought through that also-always trying to present a brave front especially to her girls. We often spoke of the fact that aging is not for sissies. The past few years have not been kind to her-with pain that would defeat most people. Not Donna-she fought through it and worked hard with rehab exercises in order to keep going. Her mind stayed so sharp. She worked the big Sunday crossword puzzles-something I envied. Donna refused to feel sorry for herself and said there were others in worse situations.
Donna was a teacher. She was skillful, professional, caring. Those of you who were fortunate enough to have been her students or who were her colleagues knew how good she was. She could explain the subject so that it was understandable. She held her students to her strict standards but also demonstrated to them how important each one was as an individual. The fact that so many of her students have stayed in touch is testament to how great she was.
Donna was a mother who had the wisdom to allow her girls to make choices and to live with their decisions. But she could be as protective as a lioness with her cubs if they were threatened in any way. She dearly loved her girls and was so proud of them. I cannot tell you how many times she has expressed to me that she did not know what she would do without them and regretted that now was the time they took care of her instead of her taking care of them. That role reversal is a difficult one for both generations.
Donna was a friend-my friend. You could, and I did, tell her private things and know they would go no further. She was a great listener and was always interested in what was happening in my life. Those of you who were her friends know what I am talking about. I knew how much I already miss her and will continue to when my birthday passed last week without that special card from her written in her lovely handwriting. My son told me of seeing a card that said you were older that you ever have been but at the same time younger that you will ever be. It reminded me of Donna telling me of the birthday when she wanted roller skates so she could skate with her girls. When told she was to old to skate, she replied, well, I won't be any younger tomorrow. She got the skates and she and the girls could skate together.
I will miss Donna and will never forget her. She will live in my heart forever. I know my life was enriched by her presence in it.

WOW-where do I start. Ms. B was my high school teacher in good ole Elbert, CO. Commuting every day from Colo. Springs she was as faithful as the tests she gave. Understanding and patient beyond belief. Her love of her career and students were her life. Ever smiling Charley, the best of husbands, Gail and Rhonda, awesome daughters, seemed to occupy the rest of her time. "Leave it to Beaver" couldn't hold a candle to The Binkly's.

Encouragement and praise she freely dealt out without a request.
A HUGE supporter of our only sport in Elbert, basketball, she was at every game cheering them on to victory. She and the referees didn't always see eye to eye but Ms. B. let them know what a poor call they had just made! Always dressed to the 9's, her hair perfect and a beautiful lady she was, inside and out. How she taught in those high-heels all day I will never know?

She stuck with me through those math problems until I got it. Ms. B. always made my toughest hurdles easier. She made everything OK.
Schooling wasn't my always my strongest point and I struggled to get through. Ms. B. would take me aside and explain, time after time, on how important it was to stay in school and graduate. She also told me what I was doing wrong and why I was getting in trouble, and what to do to corect it. Believe it or not, she was always right! She was the BEST.

After my graduation ceremony I will never forget Ms. B. hugging me and congratulating me for a fine accomplishment "I" had done. It felt so good. Her smile said it all.

After Ms. B.'s retirement I kept in touch with my friend. Sending her cards and letters to try to thank her for always being there. We kept in touch and my admiration for her grew. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't have graduated from school?
She was my mentor and still is and always will be. A beautiful lady I will miss. All my memories will be filled with plenty of smiles and laughs as well as tears.

I will truly miss you my friend.
With loving rememberance-

Dear Gail and Rhonda,

To read the entries in the guest book reminds me of my sister as she always was.

My earliest recollection of Donna was when we lived in the basement of a house at 3238 Fifth Avenue in Council Bluffs. If I were to see it now as it was, it would seem to be an impossible place to live. But it wasn't bad at all. Our parents treated our lives as quite normal, so they were norma.

Donna and I played beneath the ducts from the furnace to the upstairs, where later we moved. The support our family shared with many other families in the same straits taught us some good lessons about sharing, work, acceptance, and family.

The worst feature of having a brilliant, older sister was the residual expectation visited on me in school. Miss Rupp, our algebra teacher, would say, "You should do better. Your sister could do this easily. Now get to work." Once when I did something right, the teacher of chemistry and physics said, "You are very fortunate to have a sister who can help you with your school work."

My first date was with Donna's best friend. Donna had a date for a formal dance, and insisted that I take her friend. The several weeks before the event was spent trying to teach me dancing. She just wouldn't give up --- her friend had to have a date, and a date would be good for me, she argued.

We had many arguments on such topics as whether wet air or dry air is heavier. Some of them lasted for over two decades, and we always had great fun with them. She never acted superior when she won, and was most gratious when she lost (that one time).

Donna was only seventeen months older that I. She was two year ahead of me in school, and made certain that I did what was necessary to prepare for college. She began as a teacher of anything that needed to be taught, and that was her professional life. I think she enjoyed practicing on me.

I have so many memories of Donna that I cannot capture how proud I was of her, nor how she encouraged me to do well. Surely, she did the same for you two girls. I was fortunate to have her as a sister, and you are fortunate to have had such a marvelous mother.

Your uncle,

Louis

Dear Rhonda and Gail,

I'm so glad you wrote me about your moms death. I just wish we could have gotten together to visit. I haven't seen her since she & I met in Des Moines, Iowa for a weekend when she was teaching in Stuart, Iowa in 1949.
I first met Donna when we both started classes at Iowa State Teachers College the fall of 1945. She first roomed with a girl from Dysart, Iowa I know. Then when Lorraine(her sister) came to college she and Donna roomed together and roommate moved in with me just across the hall.
There was a group of about 6 or 7 who did things together. We had no money so sometimes on Friday night we would stay up most of the night playing cards, then sleep until noon. We would take the bus to Waterloo and eat pancakes(the cheapest thing and it filled us up). That was our meal for the day.
Donna was so friendly and we became good friends. Sometimes she and I would walk from campus to downtown Cedar Falls(2-2 1/2 miles). We enjoyed getting away from the campus for awhile and we had good talks.
She was such a smart person and was always willing to help me and others who needed help.
I lived only 40 miles from college so I went home most weekends my first year. During my 2nd year, Donna & Lorraine came home with me for a weekend. We lived on an acreage and they both enjoyed the cows and small calves. I visited Donna & Lorraine and enjoyed their mom & dad. Such nice people and good to me.
I remember meeting Donna in Tama, Iowa. We rode the train to Stuart, Iowa where she interviewed for a job.
So many times a group of us would go on picnics, couldn't afford a restaurant but we always had a good time.
It has been 62 years since I first met Donna, also Lorraine, but still have fond memories of college and dumb things we did. One Halloween she & I were bored, so for excitement we locked all the bathroom stalls from the inside. The only way to open them was to crawl under the door. That was mean!!
So many things we did didn't cost much, just enjoyed being in a group of girlfriends. I still keep in touch with 5 or 6 friends from college.
Am so sorry to hear of Donnas death.
Your moms good friend,

Ruth Ingraham

Donna was the antithesis of all mother-in-law jokes and stereotypes, and I should know, being her son-in-law. (Which, in fact, seem odd phrases for our relationship at any rate, since we had a friendship that went way beyond me being married to her daughter.) Donna was very kind, smart and funny, as others have pointed out here, but those terms also fall short of defining what made her so special, so true and genuine in a world that seems daily to become more superficial and given to fascination with meaningless spectacle. She knew what was (and is) important, and lived her life in ways that stated this quite clearly. Hearing her perspective on the many things of which we conversed (politics was always a favorite) added depth to my own, since hers was tempered with an understanding of human nature that I too often lack. I feel very privileged to have known her and loved her for the brief years I did, and miss her greatly.
Still, she lives on in the compassion and authenticity she so deeply imbued in her daughters, and in the many students she taught so much more than the traditional three Rs. And she also lives on in my memories, as a person worthy of at least trying to emulate in living a decent and honorable life. For as long as these values and qualities endure, so does she.
She is not gone, just no longer with us in person, and we are much the poorer for her departure.

Dear girls, I have known your Mother since high school, T.j. I can say she is one of the nicest, calmest, easy person I have ever met. We had a lot of good times in high school. We also had some wonderful times with your Dad and Mother. Les and I , my husband, who died in 1984. used to visit back and forth in our homes. My favorite story of Donna, was when my third child, Kent, was about 2, Donna and Charlie were visiting. Kent was on my lap facing Donna and staring at her. She started laughing and said his eyes just closed like a curtain, no twitches, just out like a light.

When your parents Moved to Colorado Springs, we missed them. Your Father used to visit and always made a point to visit with Les. Your wrote a beautiful letter my dears and I will treasure this as a memorial to Donna. All my love, your 80 year old friend of your Mother.

Gail, I was sad to hear about the loss of your mother. You have always meant so much to Cindy. Please know that you and your family are in my thoughts and that my heart goes out to you. Remember to take one day at a time.

I only met Donna a few times in my life, but I have had the awesome journey of a wonderful enduring friendship with her daughter Gail. In many ways, Gail and I led parallel lives – attending rural schools outside of Colorado Springs and carpooling with our parents to their jobs as teacher and principal. We have had countless conversations about what it is like attending school with a handful of kids. But also how what we both learned was so much more valuable than those who went to what might appear like more prestigious schools.
Gail was my professor in undergrad, but more than that, she became a friend and now she is now a big sister to me. I can say that she is probably the smartest, wittiest, and most *DOWN-TO-EARTH* person I have come to know (aside from maybe her intoxicatingly wonderful husband David Grant Long.)
The last time I saw Donna and Charles was at my high school graduation party. Our philosophy teacher (Gail and I went to the same college and had the same professors, too) brought over a case of champagne. I think I served the champagne out of paper cups. Charles – and for many years afterward – somehow thought that this occasion was my wedding reception and kept going on and on about how we drank champagne out of paper cups. Gail and I still giggle when we talk about this.
Unfortunately, Gail and I know also share a tragic ending to the same parents we used to carpool with to the rural Colorado prairie.
Gail and Rhonda, you know you are both in my thoughts and if there is anything I could ever do for you – please know I would do it! I also want to reiterate that I am all for adding extended family for Jillian and Westley. When I read these simple stories you write about your mom in this guestbook, I find myself wanting to have the same sort of simple but profound impact on my own children.
You will both make great aunties to my kids!
Gail, I hope to see you at a diner on or around Christmas Day in Colorado Springs. Heck, I will even pick up the tab.
Big hugs!

I never had the pleasure of meeting Donna, but she must have been a gem of a woman to have raised two daughters who loved and still love her to the depths of their souls. Your pain is as profound as the bond you shared with her, but it will become easier to bear one day. Meanwhile give her a chance to be there with you in spirit, in the stars and in the whinny of horses and the songs of the robins.
All things pass, a sunrise does not last all day, a cloudburst does not last all day, nor a sunset all night. Take things as they come; all things pass.

Donna Binkly was not only my mother, she was my wonderful, irreplaceable friend. How many good times did we have together? You couldn’t count them. There were the endless shopping trips with my sister, where the most mundane purchases were fun just because we were all together. The trips to San Diego and Las Vegas, the Neil Diamond concert we took her to, the walks, the basketball games in Elbert, the quiet conversations while driving from Colorado Springs to school in Elbert all those many years ago, the swimming and working out, the laughing as we worked the New York Time crossword puzzle – we just had great joy in each other’s company.
My dad and sister shared so many of those times with us, too.
Mother taught me to sew and knit, to read and to love reading, to bake, to type, to play the piano, to drive. She taught me algebra and trigonometry at Elbert High. Most of all, she taught me to be kind.
I honestly cannot remember a single time in my life when she and I had a serious argument, or when she yelled at me in anger. She preferred to discipline me with the dreaded “I’m so disappointed in you” approach, which worked much better than meanness would have.
When I was in junior high, my best friend and I took to playing hooky pretty frequently (wild times! – we went home and played chess and the piano). Of course we were eventually discovered. Was Mother upset? Nah.
“We all need mental health days sometimes,” she said.
I did see her lose her temper one time with my sister, though (sorry, Rhonda!) This is an amusing story. We three were driving to Elbert every day. Mother had to stay an hour after classes because she was a teacher. One night we were supposed to rush home afterward and leave for Las Vegas, but Rhonda was nowhere to be found. Mother and I drove around town and eventually found her sauntering along a street. When I pulled over and Rhonda bent to get into the back seat, Mother leaned out and slapped her rear end one time as hard as she could! How we all laughed about it later!
I will miss Mother the rest of my life.

I wanted to add my condolences to Gail, Rhonda and to the rest of the family.

Gail, your mother made such an impression on me when I met her and visted with her those few times back in the 70s. I know you will miss her greatly. Even though I didn't get to know her well, I could tell she was a special lady with many fine qualities, all of which she passed down to you.

My thoughts are with you and your family.

Love,
Mary

Donna was a wonderful woman who left the world a better place. I am so sorry for my friends, Gail and David, and also their sister Rhonda, for their loss.

There are no words to describe how my mothers death has affected my life. The loss is overwhelming. I want to thank everyone who has written in this guest book. The number of lives she touched cant be counted. I miss her terribly and will try to live the rest of my life in a way that would make her proud. I love you mother

Dear Gail and Rhonda -
I know that you've not only lost a mother, you've lost a very dear friend. She was a special person who brought two special people into this world.

Dear Rhonda and Gail,

I just learned of Donna's passing this week. I was hoping that she was making a good recovery and that I would be able to visit her soon. Donna was a wonderful patient and I really enjoyed working with her. Her obituary makes clear what I already suspected; she had a tremendous impact on many lives. I am very sad for your family and also for those of us who will no longer be able to enjoy her company.

Dear Gail, David and Rhonda, Though I have alrady written I wanted to see your mother's obit. Since I was here I thought that I would go ahead and sign the guestbook too. I hope the memorial service was done as you wished and hope someday you will feel like sharing about it. Please know that you remain ever in my thoughts and prayers as you walk through these very sad days. Take care. In Friendship, Dianna

Dear Gail and Rhonda,

I am so sorry to hear about Aunt Donna passing away. Although we have lived miles apart, I have thought of you freqently through the years. Donna and Charles were always so good about writing to me and keeping in touch, which meant alot. You and your family are in my our prayers.

Rhonda, Gail and David,
I am very soory to hear about Aunt Donna's passing. Your Mother and Father were very special to me.
God Bless.
Love,
Jim Henry

Gail and Rhonda,
Our heartfelt sympathy on the loss of your mother. She was truly special to us and many others. God Bless.

Rhonda, Tom and I just found out. We are so sorry for your loss.

I grew up as neighbor of Donna and Charles in the house behind theirs. I am so sorry for your loss and my prayers go out to Rhonda and Gail and family.