April 2, 1954 – January 25, 2018
Donna Rodgers, 63, of Tampa, Florida went to be with her Lord and Savior on Thursday, January 25, 2018.
Donna was priceless. She was a fierce protector and a natural born leader at home and at work. A native of Tampa, she graduated from Hillsborough High School and then followed her passion to help people as she entered her long and successful career as a police officer. In 1984, she started off as a dispatcher and shortly after completed the police academy and was sworn in as a USF police officer. Donna worked her way through the ranks earning letters of commendation and many awards including the two highest awards of Officer of the Year and USF Outstanding Staff Award. Her exceptional talent was recognized by her superiors and she was asked to lead many innovations for the department. Her assignments included the creation and leadership of the first Bike Squad for USF police (Strategic Deployment Unit), baton instructor for defensive tactics, Rape Aggression Defense instructor trainer, and Commander of the Criminal Investigations Division. After 30 years of dedication to her career as a police officer, she retired as Captain in 2014.
Donna’s love for helping people reached far beyond her efforts in her career. She was a loving and devoted mom, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend to many. Her strength and leadership qualities will never be replaced but will spread to live on in everyone she touched along the way. She is preceded in death by her father and mother, Carroll and Joyce Rodgers and brother Ronnie Rodgers. She is survived and will be dearly missed by her daughter Jennifer (Robert) Martinez, grandchildren Tori, Maddy and Sebastian, her great granddaughter Adelaide, sisters Ginger (Alan) Morgan and Debbie (Harry) Skibbe, nieces and nephews Carol, Ronnie, Ashley, Christian, Jonna, Ronnie, Hanna, Morgan and Logan.
A Celebration of Life will be held at 11AM Monday, January 29, 2018 at Idlewild Baptist Church, 18333 Exciting Idlewild Blvd, Lutz, FL 33548. A gathering of friends will be held prior to the service at 10AM also at the church and then a private family burial following the service. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to the Wounded Warriors Project (support.woundedwarriorproject.org/Donate).
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