Help bring Donna home to her final resting place
Donation protected
My name is Cheryl and never in a million years did I think I would have ever needed to compose the following:
My sister Donna Webster, known to some as “Donnie”, “Auntie”, or even “Chunks” was a special, kind, beautiful soul who had a quirky sense of humor and a laugh that could rock a room. Donna didn’t have much, but she was caring and giving and always willing to help anyone out in any way she could, something which many people could attest to.
But no matter what name was associated with Donna, she was just my big sister to me.
Growing up together before our other sister Holly came along, it was just the two of us. Of course, our parents were there but it was always “Donna and Cheryl / Donna and Cheryl”. We didn’t have phones, video games and not even much TV, so we spent all our time together playing, getting into stuff, and at times Donna would talk me into to doing stupid things (I was very naive).
Along came baby Holly, when we were around 13 and 10 years old and now together, we were the big, the middle, and the little sister. We experienced many new and different adventures (some I shall not disclose), for which we have many fond memories.
Years passed quickly and Donna and I grew somewhat apart. Different lives / different expectations / different outcomes.
At times it was difficult for me to understand her ways. I always wanted better for Donna and felt she deserved it even when I thought she didn’t feel the same way, so it took us further apart emotionally and geographically. But I never stopped loving her.
These last few years Donna had been dealing with some health issues but recently she became extremely ill. Going back and forth and in and out of the hospital for months until the doctors finally figured out that she had cancer
with a “few potential years left”.
On June 6th in the middle of the night, Westerly Hospital had moved Donna to Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut with no notice to Holly or myself.
If we had known about a possible transfer, we would have moved her back home to a hospital near us.
So now Donna was all alone and quite some distance away for 3 weeks enduring pain and struggling to stay alive with no allowed visits from us.
On Saturday, June 27th she took a turn for the worse and we were finally granted permission to be with her.
We talked with her and reminisced about years gone by. We held her hand and hugged and kissed her and comforted her as much as we could until she took her final breath and passed away. Donna was 59 years old.
She was not alone then, but sadly it was the last time we were all together;
The big, the middle, and the little sister.
Donna is at peace now but regrettably our family is in need of help to bring her back home and to her final resting place alongside our parents. Any donations given will be greatly appreciated and will be used for her memorial and burial and hopefully a portion can be donated to the Warming Center of Westerly, RI who generously helped Donna as well as many others in their time of need.
Unfortunately, it was not until after Donna’s passing that I would recall and longingly miss our childhood years together and I would do anything in my power to get just a little of that time back.
So just a little advice for when there are differences with a sibling or loved one; Forgive, overlook, remember, and try to understand because life is too short and when they are gone, its painfully too late.
Please share. We would like to give Donna the memorial she deserves, to honor her memory and say our last goodbyes.
Thank you so much for your consideration,
Cheryl
My sister Donna Webster, known to some as “Donnie”, “Auntie”, or even “Chunks” was a special, kind, beautiful soul who had a quirky sense of humor and a laugh that could rock a room. Donna didn’t have much, but she was caring and giving and always willing to help anyone out in any way she could, something which many people could attest to.
But no matter what name was associated with Donna, she was just my big sister to me.
Growing up together before our other sister Holly came along, it was just the two of us. Of course, our parents were there but it was always “Donna and Cheryl / Donna and Cheryl”. We didn’t have phones, video games and not even much TV, so we spent all our time together playing, getting into stuff, and at times Donna would talk me into to doing stupid things (I was very naive).
Along came baby Holly, when we were around 13 and 10 years old and now together, we were the big, the middle, and the little sister. We experienced many new and different adventures (some I shall not disclose), for which we have many fond memories.
Years passed quickly and Donna and I grew somewhat apart. Different lives / different expectations / different outcomes.
At times it was difficult for me to understand her ways. I always wanted better for Donna and felt she deserved it even when I thought she didn’t feel the same way, so it took us further apart emotionally and geographically. But I never stopped loving her.
These last few years Donna had been dealing with some health issues but recently she became extremely ill. Going back and forth and in and out of the hospital for months until the doctors finally figured out that she had cancer
with a “few potential years left”.
On June 6th in the middle of the night, Westerly Hospital had moved Donna to Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut with no notice to Holly or myself.
If we had known about a possible transfer, we would have moved her back home to a hospital near us.
So now Donna was all alone and quite some distance away for 3 weeks enduring pain and struggling to stay alive with no allowed visits from us.
On Saturday, June 27th she took a turn for the worse and we were finally granted permission to be with her.
We talked with her and reminisced about years gone by. We held her hand and hugged and kissed her and comforted her as much as we could until she took her final breath and passed away. Donna was 59 years old.
She was not alone then, but sadly it was the last time we were all together;
The big, the middle, and the little sister.
Donna is at peace now but regrettably our family is in need of help to bring her back home and to her final resting place alongside our parents. Any donations given will be greatly appreciated and will be used for her memorial and burial and hopefully a portion can be donated to the Warming Center of Westerly, RI who generously helped Donna as well as many others in their time of need.
Unfortunately, it was not until after Donna’s passing that I would recall and longingly miss our childhood years together and I would do anything in my power to get just a little of that time back.
So just a little advice for when there are differences with a sibling or loved one; Forgive, overlook, remember, and try to understand because life is too short and when they are gone, its painfully too late.
Please share. We would like to give Donna the memorial she deserves, to honor her memory and say our last goodbyes.
Thank you so much for your consideration,
Cheryl
Organizer
Cheryl Browning
Organizer
North Scituate, RI