Donna Jean Ingold

Donna Jean Ingold

Donna Jean Ingold passed away May 17, 2013 at Mercy Hospital in Fort Scott, Kan. She was born Feb. 18, 1936 near Pawnee Station, Crawford County, Kan. She was the daughter of Roscoe and Viola (Park) Ingold who predeceased her. She attended Johnson, Girard, Maple Grove, and Hepler grade schools. She graduated from Hepler High School in 1954. Donna immediately started working at the Western Insurance Company in Fort Scott, Kan. as a "look up" girl retrieving insurance policies from the files. She progressed to a key punch data entry operator and then a data entry verification operator. She rose to be a supervisor and eventually the Key Disk Department Director with over 60 data entry employees working for her. Upon the sale of the Western, Donna became a personal lines underwriter for the Oklahoma Territory with the American States Insurance Company. She retired in 1994 from American States after a 40-year career. She was a lifelong member of the Farlington Methodist Church and later the Fort Scott First United Methodist Church. She was active in the community with the Business and Professional Women, Women of the Western, Good Ol' Days events, Rotary Club, Hepler High School Alumni Association, Sunday School Class activities, and the Presbyterian Village committees. She started and ran a Parkinson's Support Group for several years helping both the local patients and their caregivers with insights into the progressive disease. After retirement, Donna taught herself to paint and created over 100 acrylic paintings for family and friends. She won first place with her acrylic "The Wave" which was regionally published in the 2002 Presbyterian Village "Art is Ageless" calendar. Donna realistically battled Parkinson's and rheumatoid arthritis over a 17-year period with grace, determination and a positive attitude without regard to her ever-declining abilities. She gladly shared her remarkable collection of stories and kept a genealogical memory map of family/friend relationships gathered over the years.

Donna is survived by her brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Barbara Ingold of Colorado Springs. She was a great fan of her nephew, John Ingold of Denver, Colo., and niece and husband, Meredith Hong and Dr. Joseph Hong of Egg Harbor Township, N.J.

Rev. Kenton Van will conduct funeral services 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at the First United Methodist Church with interment following at the Farlington Cemetery under the direction of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home. A visitation will be held at the funeral home on Tuesday, May 21, 2013 between 6 and 7 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made in her name to the Fort Scott First United Methodist Church or the Parkinson's Disease Foundation and left in the care of the Konantz-Cheney Funeral Home, 15 W. Wall St., P.O. Box 309, Fort Scott, KS 66701.