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DONNA MCFARLIN

June 28, 1959 ~ April 30, 2021

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Donna Loray McFarlin was born to parents, Clarence McFarlin Sr., and Mildred McFarlin on June 28, 1959.    She was called home to be with the Lord on Friday, April 30, 2021.

As the oldest daughter of six siblings in a proud United States Air Force family, Donna traveled the world, learning to love people and make friends easily. When her family settled in San Antonio, Donna united with the New Light Baptist Church where she accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior at an early age. She was baptized at New Light where she sang in the choir, attended Sunday School and Baptist Training Union. 

As is common with military children, Donna attended multiple elementary schools including W.W. White Elementary in San Antonio Texas as one of only a handful of black students to attend the school in the 1960’s. 

Donna came into her own at James Whitcomb Riley (now Martin Luther King Jr.) Middle School where she participated in many activities including Student Council, where she showcased her leadership skills, and where she was a member of the Mighty Panthers pep squad.  

Although her heart desired to finish high school at Sam Houston High School, the family relocated so that Donna attended Theodore Roosevelt High School where she again excelled, graduating at the top of the class of 1977. Donna  received multiple scholarship offers and accepted a “full-ride” scholarship to Florida A&M University in Tallahassee. 

Donna returned to Texas and accepted employment with the State of Texas, working in Austin for several years before moving to San Antonio where she accepted employment at United Healthcare.   

As her family and many friends would tell you, to know Donna was to love her.  At each of the stations assigned to her by the Lord, she made many friends and did good.  A quintessential auntie, Donna loved children, in particular her many nieces and nephews but also made room in her heart for the children of her many friends and her church family.  

Those left to celebrate Donna’s life and cherish her memory include her mother, Mildred McFarlin, her three brothers, Clarence McFarlin Jr., Daniel (and Sonia) McFarlin and Anthony (and Lorraine) McFarlin, and her two sisters, Angela (and James) Clack and Bridgette Johnson along with a host of loving nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles and many loving neighbors and friends. 

At her passing, she was reunited with her father Clarence McFarlin Sr., her paternal grandparents John Calvin and Alice Mae McFarlin, her maternal grandmother Willie Maude Williams, her beloved sister-in-law Michelle, and a great host of family who have gone on before her.

Donna will be memorialized in a private family service and laid to rest in her family’s hometown of Palmetto Georgia at the Palmetto City Cemetery.  

“Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”  Psalm 23:6

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  2. You ALWAYS had the best smile and jokes auntie! You will definitely be missed by any who knew you especially our family 💖 rest in peace! Love you!

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  3. MEMORIES LIGHT THE CORNERS OF MY MIND . . .
       Curly twins in yellow tulle
         Sister summers at Aunt Lil’s
           Finding the Christmas stash
             Front row singing in the choir
               360, left on Stolnet , past Longview and Readwell
                 Cherry ICEE at Winn’s

    SCATTERED PICTURES OF THE SMILES WE LEFT BEHIND . . .
       That giant slide on the southwest side
         Selling pickles out of the school store.
           On up to the Northeast side
             And up Greentop to swim
               TR to FAMU.
                 No more calling 925-2732

    MEMORIES MAY BE BEAUTIFUL AND YET . . .
       Wondered.
         Prayed.
           Assumed.

    SO, IT’S THE LAUGHTER WE WILL REMEMBER WHENEVER WE REMEMBER . . .

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  4. “God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out every tear from 
    their eyes and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry 
    nor pain be anymore. The former things has passed away.”
    (Revelation 21:3,4)

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  5. My sister Donna has passed away.
    The first born of our family will be sorely missed. She was more than a sister to me, she was a friend, a role model, and a confidant.
    I find comfort in knowing that her pains, her trials, and her challenges are no more and now she rests with the Lord.
    I will treasure the memories I have of my big sister. Her bright smile, her lively personality, her unique infectious laugh. All of these will stay with me for the rest of my days.
    I’ll hold on to the memories of our travels together as a family, our teasing, our fights, our talks, her advice when I had no one else to talk to.
    Yes, I have regrets. I regret our arguments and the long periods of silence that inevitably followed. I regret the fact that as we aged, we didn’t talk as much as we should have. But most of all I regret not telling Donna that I loved her more times than I did.
    I will miss my sister.

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  6. My Lord, Donna and I were the best of friends, I’ve been trying to reach out to her for a while now and to come across this. You’ll be truly missed my friend, no more birthday celebrations together, but you’ll forever be in my heart, love you Big Sis!
    Linda Brisco-Henry

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  7. I will miss you, Miss Donna!!! Your friend, AND colleague, James Von Debrow III, Former ret., Texas Highway Patrol

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