Donna Simmons

Donna L. Simmons, 88, of 514 Hamilton St., went home to be with her Lord and Savior at 1:33 a.m. January 14, 2021 at Ottumwa Regional Health Center. She was born on December 20, 1932 in rural Davis County to Roy and Mable Thompson Brown. She married Jack Simmons, her one and only true love from the age of 8, on June 4, 1950. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary together in 2000. Jack preceded her in death on March 24, 2003. A resident of Davis County and Ottumwa all of her life, Donna had been a hard worker up until the day she died. She worked many jobs including Universal Rundel, Woolworth’s 5 & 10, Evans Middle School cafeteria, Hardee’s, the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Burlington, Lowenberg Bakery, the Blood Bank, she ran her own daycare and she and Jack had their own grocery store on the southside of Ottumwa. She retired in 1992 from John Deere Ottumwa Works, being one of the few women who worked there at the time. Donna had attended First Pentecostal Assembly of God. She had a green thumb that would put any others to shame. Loving and guiding her family was her greatest joy! Surviving are her daughters, Connie Simmons and Cathie (Mike) Stufflebeem, all of Ottumwa; 3 grandchildren, (whom Jack and Donna helped raise from 1986 to adulthood) Chad (Stacey) Ingle, Jackie (Brent) Moughler all of Ottumwa, Caleb (Tristen) Ingle of Polk City; 7 great-grandchildren, Macayla (Devon) Conder, Payton Ingle (fiancé Michael Gothier), Bailey Ingle, Eli and Olivia Moughler all of Ottumwa, Simon and Lena Ingle of Polk City; 3 great-great-grandchildren, Logan, Khloe and Madaline Conder; 2 step-grandchildren, Joe Stufflebeem of Ottumwa and Rachel (Andy) Majerus of Stuart and their children, Layla, Evelyn, Sebastian and Gideon; her sister, Pam (Gary Joe) Huggins of Arizona; many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; a son-in-law, Chuck Ingle in 1986, 2 great-grandchildren, Logan Moughler in 2004 and Raleigh (pronounced Ray-lee) Ingle in 2016; 4 sisters, infant Beatrice, Dema Bunting, Mary Holmes and Ernestine Rudin; a brother, Robert Brown and a step-great-granddaughter, Celia Majerus in 2011. Private funeral services will be at 1 p.m. Tuesday January 19th at Reece Funeral Home with Pastor Mike Dotson and Pastor Richard Schlotter officiating. For those unable to be at the service, you may watch live on the Reece Funeral Home Facebook page. Limited open visitation will be 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Monday January 18th. Family members Cathie Stufflebeem, Pam Huggins, Jackie Moughler, Chad and Caleb Ingle will greet friends from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.rfh-ia.com. Burial will be in Ollie Cemetery with Chad and Caleb Ingle, Brent Moughler, Bailey Ingle, Eli Moughler and Joe Stufflebeem serving as pallbearers. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the family with intention to go to Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge through Assembly of God churches. The family would encourage anyone who wishes to visit with the family to come by for finger foods at the Simmons residence (where the door was always open) from 5-7 p.m. the day of the funeral, January 19th. If needing directions call or text Jackie @ 641-799-9194. In honor of Donna…strive to make Heaven your home-live life for Christ! Until we meet again, this is not the end!