Donna Gayl (Davidson) Dougherty died peacefully at home in her sleep on November 6, 2017. Her oldest son Robin, was there waiting in heaven for her, having just died a few weeks earlier. Donna was born on November 14, 1930, the only child of Ray and Marie (Obert) Davidson, and spent her early childhood days romping around on their pig farm outside of McConnell IL or her grandparents farm in Orangeville before moving to Cedarville where she attended school.  After graduating from Freeport High School in 1948 she worked at Micro Switch. She had a knack for numbers and became a successful bookkeeper. She also considered herself a darn good ice skater at that time and spent winter days on local ponds and rivers.

In 1955 she married Robert Bauer and moved to Stockton where she raised her 3 children; Fawn (Chuck) of WA, and Robin (Janet) and Jay (Kim) of Stockton.  In 1979 she married Don Dougherty and her family grew in size, with Kathy (John) and Karen (Vern) of CA, Dennis (Carol) and Maxine (Dick) of Rockford, Danny (Sharon) of Sandwich and Colleen (Andy) of Freeport. Donna and Don lived 25 wonderful years at Apple Canyon Lake where they loved spending time on the lake, hosting Bears tailgate parties and playing golf. They moved to Stockton in 2005, where Don died in 2009.

Her family was everything to her. She was the perfect mom; encouraging, patient, loving, always positive. She spent countless hours baking cookies, supporting lemonade stands, leading groups of brownies and cub scouts on outings. Donna could be found at every game cheering on her boys at sporting events. She loved watching them play sports. Her grand kids were the light of her life. She had 5 grandchildren on the Bauer side and 13 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren on the Dougherty side. Everyone loved spending time with Grama, whether it was playing cards and board games, swimming off the pontoon boat, hunting for turtles or reading books together. She had an endless amount of love to give.

Donna also loved her friends, and she had many. She was on several bowling and golf leagues and served 25 years on the board of the Stockton Community Golf Course. She loved traveling with her friends and family; be it to a special golf course, to Ireland or to visit her grandkids in Alaska. She was up for any adventure. She was also a card player... from early euchre clubs in her basement on High Street, to her favorite Women's Wednesday Poker Club, she loved to play cards, and was eager to take your nickels from you.

Most of all Donna LOVED parties of all kinds. She was never one to turn down an invitation. Good appetizers and Happy Hours were essential….  and throw in a Friday night fish fry catfish dinner at a local bar—it doesn't get any better than this! She was fun to be around, and always the life of the party!

Donna will be greatly missed.

Funeral services will take place at the Holy Cross Church in Stockton on Friday, November 24 ^th at 11:00am. Visitation will be at the church from 9:00-11:00 with a luncheon following the service. In lieu of flowers a memorial fund has been established.