Maxine Luemma (Wakey) Donaldson

A fitting comment from author Joan Didion: “a single person is missing for you, and the whole world is empty.” On May 13, 2021 our beloved Maxine LuEmma (Wakey) Donaldson transitioned out of the land of the living into the dreams and memories that our hearts are left to contend with. Daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunt, grandmother and friend, Maxine was born into a farming family July 2, 1923 near Grand Ridge, Illinois. Just a child during the Great Depression she came to value people over possessions as the family, like most, lost everything.

Her father, Ross Wakey had wanted to go to college but wasn’t able because of the demands of farming. When Maxine was able to attend college in Iowa she jumped at the opportunity. Graduating with a B.A. degree from Cornell College and a post graduate Physical Therapy program from the University of Iowa she began her career as a Navy WAVE near the end of WWII. Leaving the Navy as a Lieutenant JRG she moved westward to Sheltering Arms in Minneapolis, rehabilitating people suffering the polio epidemics of the postwar era.

Service and quiet strength characterized Maxine’s life. She and her husband, the late Sidney E. Donaldson Jr., raised one daughter, Diane Fagan of Fort Smith and three sons; Jerry (Mary) of Fort Smith, James (Leigh) of Surprise, Arizona and Scott of Fort Worth, Texas. She leaves to cherish her memory her grandchildren, Samantha, Samuel, Lisa, Matthew, Trevor, Nyah and Tristan along with great grandchildren Haleh, Nathan and Mackenzie.

If you knew her you adored her as she made life-long friends wherever she lived along life’s journey from Illinois to Wisconsin, Connecticut to Minnesota and in 1980 Arkansas. Holiday meals were the best - with everyone in the kitchen, walks around the neighborhood, and a rowdy game of Spoons at the end of the day.

Maxine loved music. She could tickle the ivories and played the handbells. She was a regular attendee of the Fort Smith Symphony and never missed Samantha’s choir concerts. Maxine approached music, nature, life and people with an attitude full of joy, wonder and curiosity and the conviction that life had much to offer and with the humility that she had much to learn.

Not the life of the party; rather the glue that held it all together. She did not need to be the center of attention; her welcoming nature provided fertile ground for others to be who they needed to be. She loved camping, all her neighbors and was a great care- giver, visited friends who were sick, endlessly wrote letters to her loved ones around the world, picked up sticks, loved the leaves of the autumn and raved about flowers especially the Jonquils of spring. Her favorite color was purple like the violets out the back door. She listened more than talked, loved doing crossword puzzles and gave the best hugs.

For those Maxine leaves behind, with lives indeed emptier for having to say goodbye yet much fuller for having been loved by her, may we continue to live her legacy of love, kindness and acceptance for the length of our days.