Donna Lehman Platt

Donna Lehman Platt, 83, passed away September 8, 2012, in McKinney, Texas. She was born Donna Mae Gilliam to parents Lester E. Gilliam and Stella R. (Dieriex) Gilliam, on April 8, 1929, in Hay Springs, Nebraska.

The family moved to the west coast a few years later, and Donna grew up mostly in Washington and Oregon. Donna attended school at Woodburn, Oregon and at Rushville, Nebraska. She graduated from Rushville High School in 1947.

Donna married Bill Lehman of Rushville, Nebraska on March 29, 1948 and made their home on the Lehman ranch north of Rushville. In December 1959, they moved with their young family to Marshfield, Wisconsin and purchased a dairy farm. Later, the family lived in Kansas, Texas and Nebraska.

She and Bill became the parents of ten children over the years. She was always a loving and caring mother, raising seven of the ten children to adulthood.

Bill Lehman died in October 1989, while the couple was living in South Sioux City, Nebraska. Later, Donna moved to Wisconsin to be near some of her family. Her family was the most important part of her life. 

She married William Platt in Wisconsin in September 1996, and they moved to southwest Missouri to make their home. William Platt passed away in November 2009.

Donna will be remembered for her love and devotion to her family; her love of music and dancing; and her quick wit and humor.

Preceding her in death are her parents, Stella and Lester Gilliam, both her husbands, Bill Lehman and William Platt, a son, Bruce Lehman who drowned as a teen, and two sons who died in infancy, James Lehman and Duane Lehman.

Surviving her are three sisters, Joan Arthur, Phyllis Anderson and Cherlyn Nelson; seven children, Sheila Wells, Mark Lehman, Thomas Lehman, Cinda Beckman, Sharla Francis, Launa Still and Timothy Lehman; eleven grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service and visitation will be held September 13, 2012, in Rushville, Nebraska at the Methodist Church at 7 p.m. The funeral service will be held on September 14, 2012, at 10 a.m. at the Methodist Church in Rushville. Burial will be at Fairview Cemetery in Rushville.