Donna Mae Thompson

Mrs. Donna Mae Thompson of Onalaska died on December 9 ^th , 2021 at the Onalaska Care Center joining her beloved husband, Jerry, in eternal peace with the Lord.

Your Hug Meant the World
Nobody else held me so tight
Or made me feel so right
No one's eyes shined so bright with love
As my mom, who is now high above.
- Tamsen Butler

Our precious mom, Donna, was a woman who devoted herself to her family. She was a homemaker for most of the years when raising her 5 children, Rich (Sue) Thompson, La Crosse, WI, Bryan Thompson, La Crosse, WI, Charlene (Shawn) Herrin, Arnold, MO, Laurie (Joe) Flannery, La Crescent, MN and Mark (Natalie) Thompson, El Dorado Hills, CA.

Donna grew up on a dairy farm up on St. Joseph’s Ridge with parents Peter and Marie Schmidt and a whole bunch of siblings.   She was a graduate of Aquinas High School and married Jerry on August 11 ^th , 1956 beginning a life busy with children, taking care of a hard working carpenter, making dollar’s stretch and supplementing our food growing gardens and keeping the root cellar full.

She was a kind, unassuming woman and devoted to her Catholic upbringing attending St. Patrick’s church in Onalaska regularly which was fairly easy since we lived right next to the church. We always believed that was intentional on her part. Later on, Donna went to work for JCPenney in La Crosse and continued to work there until retirement.

Besides gatherings with family and many friends, Donna enjoyed reading, traveling, playing card games, and coloring beautiful prints. We believe she had a great eye for beauty and her coloring proved that later in life.

Besides her children, Donna also loved her ten grandchildren, Kristin (Dustin), Andrew, Jessica, Molly (Nate), Brittany, Matthew (Liz), Dylan (Emily), Jerrod, Cole (Bridget) and Emily and 7 great grandchildren, Charlie, Owen, Leo, Mason, Ayla, Isaiah and Daxton. In addition to those mentioned above, Donna is survived by siblings Evy Thornton, Betty Wein, Jerome Schmidt, Alan Schmidt, Eunice Kaiser and Jim Schmidt. Donna was preceded in death by her parents and siblings Loretta Walters, Millie Roesler, Peter Schmidt, Jr., and Sharon Friet.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Thursday, December 16, 2021 at 11:00 AM at St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Onalaska. Msgr. Steven Kachel will officiate. Burial will be in the Onalaska City Cemetery. Friends may call at the church on Thursday from 10:00 AM until the time of services.

We would like to add a special thanks to the staff at the Onalaska Care Center for their many years of caring for Mom. An extra special thanks to C.J., Joey and Brad.

In lieu of flowers please send donations to St. Patrick’s Church in Onalaska or to the Onalaska Care Center, Recreation Therapy Department. Online guestbook is available at www.schumacher-kish.com .