Donna (Schaefer) Gleason entered eternal life on August 19 after a courageous battle with cancer. Her life was rooted in a deep Catholic faith and shaped by the things she valued most: family, service, laughter, and being present for others.

Faith was a constant throughout Donna’s life. She was an active member of Precious Blood and later St. Joseph Hessen Cassel. At Precious Blood, she combined her love of music with her faith, playing guitar as a member of the folk group for many years. She also served the Church as a lector and Eucharistic minister. At St. Joe, her involvement took many forms, from participating in the parish grief group and coordinating funeral dinners to selling SCRIP to support educational programs at St. Joseph Elementary School and coordinating and helping to organize Catholic women’s retreats. Her desire to serve extended beyond the parish through her volunteer work with Redeemer Radio and Erin’s House for Grieving Children.

For Donna, these were not simply activities that filled a calendar. They reflected the way she approached life. If someone needed a meal, encouragement, a listening ear, or simply another person willing to help, Donna could usually be counted on to be there. Her faith was something she lived more often through her actions than her words.

At the heart of everything was her family. Donna shared her life with her husband, Corky, and together they raised three sons, Jeff, Scott, and Ben. Their family grew to include Jeff’s wife, Amy Winkleblack, Scott’s wife, Robin Gleason, and five grandchildren: Keenan, Madden, Liam, Hailey, and Ivy. Being a grandmother brought Donna great happiness. She loved simply spending time with her grandchildren, and games were always a favorite—especially Farkle, which provided plenty of opportunities for a little competition and a lot of laughter.

Laughter, in fact, was never in short supply around Donna. She had a wonderful sense of humor, a trait that all three of her sons were fortunate enough to inherit. Raising Jeff, Scott, and Ben also required a remarkable amount of patience—perhaps enough to qualify as a fourth theological virtue. The boys discovered early that when they had done something they shouldn’t have, making Mom laugh was often their best strategy. It rarely erased the offense entirely, but it could significantly reduce the consequences. It was a strategy they refined over the years and one that says as much about Donna’s warmth and humor as it does about their ability to test her patience.

She was also the kind of mother who showed up. Whether it was a football game, wrestling match, school activity, or another milestone in her sons’ lives, Donna wanted to be there. One particularly memorable season captures her determination better than almost anything: while attending night school two evenings a week and keeping up with folk group rehearsals, she still managed to attend 32 football games. To Donna, supporting her children wasn’t an obligation competing for space in her schedule—it was simply what a mother did.

Donna brought that same dedication to her professional life. She worked as a paralegal at Central Soya beginning in 1980 and into the early 1990s before continuing her career at Lincoln Financial, where she remained until retiring in 2006. For many of those years, she balanced a career, continuing education, raising three boys, church commitments, and volunteer work—somehow finding room for all of it and, just as importantly, finding time for the people who mattered to her.

Donna leaves behind her loving husband, Corky; their three sons, Jeff, Scott, and Ben; daughters-in-law Amy Winkleblack (Jeff) and Robin Gleason (Scott); grandchildren Keenan, Madden, Liam, Hailey, and Ivy; her sister, Phyllis Schaefer; her brothers, Joe Schaefer, Mark Schaefer (Paula), and Jack Schaefer; along with family and friends who will deeply miss her. She was preceded in death by her sister, Ann, and her parents, Frederick and Ruth Schaefer.

The many roles Donna filled during her life—wife, mother, grandmother, sister, paralegal, musician, volunteer, and faithful parishioner—tell only part of her story. What mattered most was how she filled those roles: with generosity, humor, perseverance, and an abiding faith in God. She could comfort a grieving family, play guitar at Mass, cheer from the sidelines, organize a parish dinner, compete with her grandchildren over a game of Farkle, and laugh when one of her boys was trying desperately to talk his way out of trouble.

Those ordinary moments, accumulated over a lifetime, became something extraordinary.

The faith Donna carried throughout her life also gave her strength during her battle with cancer. Now, her family finds comfort in the same Catholic faith that meant so much to her—the belief that death is not a final goodbye, but a passage into the eternal life promised through Christ.

They entrust Donna to the mercy and loving embrace of God, grateful for a life filled with faith, family, service, music, and laughter, and for the countless memories that remain with those who loved her.

Eternal rest grant unto her, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.

A funeral Mass will be held at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at St. Joseph Catholic Church, 2213 Brooklyn Avenue, Fort Wayne, IN 46802 with visitation from 2:00 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. A Rosary will be recited on 3:30 p.m.  Memorials can be written for Mass Intentions at St. Joseph - Brooklyn in Donna's name.