Donna Garbacz

Donna Garbacz affectionately known as DJ passed away on the evening of April 6th in Florida near her snowbird residence in Nokomis, Florida. Her normal residency was in Waterford, Michigan.
She is survived by her husband Leonard Garbacz, , her daughter Debbie Moceri and husband Frank, son Billy Patrick, her grandchildren, Emily, Vince, and Natalie Moceri, and Tim, Dana, Stephanie, Christopher and Nathan Garbacz, her sisters Margo Kaufman and Lynn Hunley as well as many long time close friends; for we were all friends of DJ.
Donna Schuster later to become Donna Garbacz was born in Auburn, Illinois on January 31st 1936 to Grace and Carl Schuster.
DJ was a high school teacher for almost 30 years teaching shorthand secretarial to typing to accounting to computers in starting in Woodbridge, New Jersey and then Oxford, Michigan. She had many many years of leaving the house well before light to travel more than an hour one way to school. Donna was a natural talent at teaching. She received her undergraduate degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and her Masters degree in teaching from University of Michigan.
DJ with her husband Leonard were sailors and not in a casual way. They took their boat called "Time Enough" from Detroit thru the Great Lakes thru the Erie canal to the Hudson River past West Point into New York City down the Chesapeake Bay stopped for a hurricane in Baltimore went thru the inner coastal waterways to Florida and then across the gulf stream to meet their family that flew into the Bahamas for one of the best moments of our lives. Thank you, DJ, for your love of life.
Donna Garbacz was almost a tireless creator of peaceful settings and artwork from weaving to beadwork to watercolors to fused glass to miniature sculpture to jewelry. Her home was always a refuge of peace and inspiration. She had talent and brought others talent to the surface.