Donna Marie Casperson passed away on November 9, 2022, at her home in Orem, Utah, after a valiant, month-long battle to recover from a heart attack and stroke.

Donna was born July 16, 1941, in Anaconda, Montana, to Robert Harrison Casperson and Gladys Marie Garst Casperson. When she was two months old, her father went to work in Kodiak, Alaska, where he was employed at the Naval Air Station. Donna and her mother were scheduled to leave by boat on December 8, 1941 to join him. Those plans were changed by the attack on Pearl Harbor the day before, so Gladys and Donna lived with family in California until they were able to move to Fairbanks, Alaska, two years later in 1943. Donna started her education at Denali School in Fairbanks.

When Donna was seven, the family bought a homestead 23 miles southeast of Fairbanks, next to Eielson Air Force Base. She, Joan and Guy attended the Eielson Territorial School on the base. While her parents built their home on the property, Donna built her very own playhouse with the left-over wood, her first of many building projects throughout her life. She thoroughly enjoyed the long days of summer and having acres of wooded forest as her backyard. She loved seeing the B-52 bombers fly overhead, playing in the ponds and on the railroad tracks, and seeing the moose. Life was a continuous adventure on the homestead. Her bus driver once saved her from being attacked by a wolf and one summer her dad killed six bears around their house.

When Donna was in high school, the family lived in Fairbanks half the school year and in Preston, Idaho, the other half. She graduated from Preston High School in 1959. She attended Brigham Young University, received her bachelor's degree in psychology in 1963, and moved to Los Angeles to be a social worker. She then returned to BYU to do graduate work and received her master's degree in 1969, also in psychology. She moved to Pennsylvania in 1970 after accepting a faculty position at Harrisburg Area Community College, eventually becoming a senior professor. She taught there for 30 years, making life-long friends with both colleagues and students.

One of the things Donna enjoyed most about Pennsylvania was the abundance of green trees. She bought 17 acres of land in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania, which she named Oneida Farm. She designed and built a home on the wooded property and hired the Amish to build a three-story barn. She raised cows and chickens and grew a garden. She loved woodworking of all kinds and had an extensive woodshop with every tool known to mankind (most in duplicate!).

Donna had a sailboat she named Sundance and was a member of the Susquehanna Yacht Club on Long Level where she learned to sail on the Susquehanna River. She loved to watch football, including her alma mater, BYU, and the Kansas City Chiefs with coach Andy Reid. In the tradition of her father attending auctions, she went to Haar's auction in Dillsburg every Friday night and, in the tradition of her mother, she often enjoyed a delicious soft-serve ice cream cone.

Donna traversed the United States many times with her partner, Cathy, and returned to visit the family homestead in Alaska in 2012. One favorite place they visited every summer in their motor home was the beach at Assateague Island, Maryland, where the small, wild ponies roam the entire island and come right into your campsite.

Donna sold the property in Dillsburg in 2020 and she and Cathy moved to Orem, along with their beloved cats Maddy, Nucky, and Boots, to be close to her family.

Donna is survived by her partner of 27 years, Cathy Gill; her sisters, Joan Johnson (Ron) and Teresa DeSpain (Russ); nine dearly beloved nieces and nephews; one great-nephew; three great-nieces; and many choice friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; her siblings, Gerald Ross Casperson, Robert "Guy" Harrison Casperson, Jr, and Edna Mae Casperson; and her sweet niece, Jessica Johnson.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, November 19, at Walker Sanderson Funeral Home, 646 East 800 North, Orem, Utah, at 12:00 noon. Viewing and visitation will be prior to the funeral from 10:45 to 11:45 a.m. After the funeral, a luncheon will immediately follow which all are invited to attend. The services will be Live Broadcast at www.walkersanderson.com.

Interment will be in the Logan City Cemetery,1200 East 1000 North, Logan, Utah, on Tuesday, November 22 at 1:00 p.m.

Donna will be remembered as a deep thinker and will surely be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing her. We love you, Donna!