Donna Christine Stocks' Obituary
Donna Christine Stocks
May 8, 1949 – October 17, 2014
A sister is a blessing,
who fills your heart with love,
She flies with you in life
with the beauty of a dove.
~ Shiv Sharma
All of us know that Donna had a big heart, with lots of capacity to love and enjoy all of us. Her heart stopped after a long and hard fight against leukemia. Donna’s loving smile and presence will be missed.
Donna lived a life of adventure. She was born in Alabama but grew up in Portland attending Franklin High School where she was popular with many friends. Shortly after she graduated high school in 1967, Donna decided she wanted to be a flight attendant (stewardess at the time) and was hired by TWA. After her six week training in Kansas City, Donna was assigned to Newark, New Jersey as her first home base - a long way from home.
That was an exciting time to be a flight attendant – single, free and in a glamorous job that allowed her to travel all over the country. Donna grew quickly, met some great people, and had many new experiences. After a couple of years she was assigned back to the West Coast with San Francisco as her home base. Just imagine, life as a stewardess in the Bay Area during the 1970s. What an experience for a person in her 20s. For three straight summers, I went down and stayed with Donna for three weeks each stay. It was a lot of fun with her stewardess roommates and friends. Donna enjoyed her lifestyle and all the experiences – good and bad. It made her the person we all know and love.
Along the way she met the love of her life, Wing Kumler. In fact, Wing quickly became the love of all our lives! They had a very close relationship until his death in 1987, ironically from leukemia. Wing’s death was very difficult for Donna and she struggled to move on. During that time, TWA was taken over by Carl Ichan and the flight attendants went on strike. Donna moved back to Portland and went to work at Paulsen Investments as an assistant. That did not last long because Donna went forward to study and pass her Series 7 test to become a stock broker – not an easy thing to do. She worked at Paulsen until TWA called her back – she could not resist the lure of the flight attendant lifestyle.
A few years later, Donna met and married Richard Stocks. It was an important time in her life and really helped her move her life forward. She and Richard lived in Los Angeles for nearly 10 yeas before they separated. Donna worked for TWA for 30 years until she retired for medical reasons in 1998 and moved back to Portland.
We were all beneficiaries of Donna’s big heart. She had a way of bringing us all together and was comfortable in any crowd. Donna died peacefully under hospice care after her courageous battle with leukemia that included surviving a stem cell transplant. Her life was cut short but her spirit will live on in all who were touched by her love and kindness.
What’s your fondest memory of Donna?
What’s a lesson you learned from Donna?
Share a story where Donna's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Donna you’ll never forget.
How did Donna make you smile?