Donna Coffin

FARMER CITY - Donna Lee Coffin, 84, of Farmer City passed from this life on Friday (May 31, 2024) at Kirby Medical Center, Monticello.

A graveside service will be held on Wednesday, June 5, at noon at Shiloh Cemetery, Mahomet. Blair-Owens Funeral Home, Mahomet, is assisting the family with arrangements.

Donna was born on Aug. 22, 1939, the firstborn to Walter and Pauline (nee Ashley) Pierce, in the tenant house at the Mose James farm in rural Mansfield, where Walter was the hired hand. She loved growing up in a farm setting and from a very young age helped her dad with the chores that went along with farm life. She spoke fondly of her memories of Sunday dinners at her grandma's house with aunts, uncles and cousins.

She attended Bellflower schools through her sophomore year, when her parents left farming behind and moved to Mahomet. She was a 1957 graduate of Mahomet-Seymour High School, where, as her husband's friends told him, and he still loves to re-tell, he got the prettiest girl in school.

She met the love of her life, Merle Coffin, who survives her, in Mahomet in 1956. They were married on June 17, 1957. They spent their first two years of marriage and gave birth to their first child in Tacoma, Wash. (Ft. Lewis), where Merle had been stationed after being drafted in the Army. They returned to Mahomet in 1959 and resided there until moving to the country in December 1970 near one of the farms where she spent a portion of her childhood, southwest of Bellflower.

She devoted her time to raising her four children, who survive her: Merle Jr. (Faye) of Mansfield, Micah (Kelli Maxwell) of Oakwood, Andrea (Mark Kuglar) of Cissna Park and Alyssa of Farmer City. Also surviving are six grandsons, four granddaughters, 10 great-grandsons, four great-granddaughters and another great-grandchild on the way. Her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren were the joy of her life.

Also surviving are a sister, Coleen Helmick of Paducah, Ky.; two brothers, Walter (Heather Pierce) of Mahomet and Tony (Georgia) Pierce of Monticello; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents and two brothers, Michael and Monty Pierce.

Her life was dedicated to serving God, her husband and her family. Anytime there was a need, whether it was aunts, uncles, siblings, parents or children, she was there to do whatever she could to ease their load.

She enjoyed canning with her mother, collecting antiques, chrocheting, cleaning and organizing anything she could. Occupations included cleaning houses, and after her children were raised, she worked for Linda Nelson Stocks Studio, the Champaign post office and was a retail team member at Meijer in Champaign.

Memorials can be made to Voice of God Recordings, P.O. Box 950, Jeffersonville, IN  47131. Condolences may be offered at owensfuneralhomes.com.