Donna Mae Hutchins

Donna Mae Nelson was born in Hutchinson, Kansas, December 20th, 1929. Her parents were Eileen and George Nelson and her younger siblings were Carol Nelson Bond (d.) and Richard Nelson.  As a young woman, Donna loved to sing in the school chorus and was very involved in Job's Daughters and Eastern Star.  In 1949, she married Jerald "Jerry" W. Hutchins, also of Hutchinson, and their growing family moved to California in 1963.   

As her mother and grandmothers before her, Donna was an exquisite seamstress, which led to a part-time job in JCPenney's fabric department at the Southland Mall in Hayward. Eventually she advanced to a full time career in the credit department for 20 years. Frugal by nature, she would lose sleep contemplating how to execute a project with minimal waste.  Among her repertoire of creations were baby dresses, cheerleading outfits, Halloween costumes, wedding gowns, upholstery and draperies, quilts for multitudes of babies, and she even started a new trend in soccer flags for her grandsons' San Ramon Valley soccer teams. 

Donna's outside activities were mainly devoted to the philanthropic organization Beta Sigma Phi, Preceptor Nu Upsilon Chapter.  In 2011, she received her Diamond Circle Certificate for "60 years of steadfast devotion to the virtues of Beta Sigma Phi."  Her Sorority Sisters were her very closest and dearest friends.  In addition, she was an avid reader and has been rumored to have read every book in the San Ramon library. Recently, she has also enjoyed listening to many interesting audiobooks. Late into many nights and sometimes even the wee hours of the morning, Donna was known to be a ruthless competitor in various games with her friends and grandchildren. Her favorite games included Uno, Yahtzee, Bingo and especially the canasta game Hand & Foot. She attributed her incredibly sharp mind at the age of 85 to her nightly viewings of Jeopardy over the past decades. 

The absolute light of her life, however, was spending time with her family. She has said that becoming a grandparent was "an entirely different kind of joy." She is survived by her children: Jan (Andrew), Kathy (Tony), and John (Kim); her grandchildren: Julie (Michael), Adam (Nancy), Justin, Paul, Andrew, Evan, Derek, Garrett, Quinn and Kiley; and great grandbabies, Parker and Ryder. 

In lieu of flowers, the family would appreciate donations to Vitas Hospice Services whose staff and volunteers were so caring at the end of Donna's life, especially Rafael, Sakeenah, and Omni.  www.vitas.com 

An informal gathering of close friends and family will be held on Sunday, January 18th, 2015, at 2:00 PM. For details, please email janetshutchins@aol.com. Thank you, everyone, for loving our beautiful Mom. 

Love, 

Jan, Kathy and John