April 28, 1931 – October 18, 2024
Obituary
Donna Rae Mouton, age 93, of Nacogdoches, Texas passed away on Friday, October 18, 2024.
A native of Idaho’s challenging weather. A Navy wife. A motorcycle momma. A mother of five, all born within two years of each other. A fighter of Alzheimer’s disease.
Her family members will all agree these words don’t begin to describe the strength of character Donna Rae Bruce Mouton brought to life in her 93 years until she died on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Nacogdoches, Texas.
Born April 28, 1931, in Eden, Idaho, a small potato farming town in Southern Idaho near the Oregon Trail, Donna was the daughter of Daniel and Kathleen Donoho Bruce and the youngest of three sisters, all with distinctive white-blonde hair and an avid curiosity for life. Some of her favorite memories of childhood were exploring the open prairie, climbing trees and playing marbles while claiming she always “whupped every classmate.” She proudly described herself as a “tomboy.” However, she also helped her mother in the kitchen and garden, and she learned at an early age how to grow vegetables, can food and cook excellent meals for her family. She loved riding in the bed of her dad’s truck at a very young age while he delivered coal to neighbors. She always sang loudly “The Old Gray Mare, She Ain’t What She Used to Be.” Customers would all come outside, smile and wave. She worked the soda fountain as a teenager at the Eden pharmacy and, though she would never brag, it was widely known in town that many of the eligible young men stopped by often to get a soda just on the off chance that they might get to chat with the cute little teenager working behind the soda fountain while a protective boss was looking over her shoulder the entire time. She also learned practical skills fixing things at her father’s knee and put those talents to use throughout her life. That skill earned her jobs thereafter in electronic assembly and more. She lived a lifelong dream of opening her own ceramics shop in Midland, Texas, and she particularly loved crafting, including spinning fiber, weaving rugs and placemats on the loom, and crocheting. She also was an early user of the laser engraver and sold craft items. She never tired of trying something new, including playing the cornet, bagpipes and hammered dulcimer. She even raised a few llamas whom she gave names and regarded as her pets.
She met Earl F. Mouton in high school who, as a newcomer to the Eden area, fell immediately and permanently in love. They married December 1, 1951, in San Diego, California, where he was stationed in his career with the U.S. Navy. They produced five offspring, all having her blonde hair and blue-eyed features, including Steven in Idaho, Rodney in Guam, Earl Bruce and Connie in California, and Kemit in Georgia. They also resided where he was stationed in Iceland, Missouri and Ohio. Donna explored the world with Earl F. and with family, from riding camels in Egypt, camping and touring on four trips throughout Europe, going to craft conventions, cruising Hawaii with daughter Connie, enjoying trips to the beach in Orange, Calif., and flying from Midland to Idaho in the 80s for hers and Earl’s high school class reunion in their private Cessna 172 airplane. After Earl retired from the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander, the family moved to Nacogdoches in 1971, and then he and Donna moved to Midland, Kanab, Utah; Devine, and Sealy; and back to Nacogdoches in 2022. Donna and Earl were married for 72 years before he died in December.
The family also went on many camping adventures and water ski trips. She even traveled in their motor home with Earl while he was working on a geology degree in his retirement at Stephen F. Austin State University. On one of their many geology field trips to the Big Bend area, she found one of the most desirable geological artifacts of the geology field trips, one that even the geology professors envied and tried to talk her out of. She was very proud of that find. Another favorite travel memory was riding her Yamaha motorcycle with six other family members on their motorcycles cross country from Texas to California, visiting national parks and camping. She was affectionately known as “Yamaha Ma.”
She made friends and neighbors everywhere she lived, even from her childhood days when she befriended a young Japanese girl who was one of 13,000 Japanese Americans held at the Minidoka National Historic Site, formerly the Minidoka War Relocation Center/World War II internment camp near Eden. She recalls meeting her friend while playing in the Idaho semi-arid desert, and they often went together to church and met after school to play. As a Navy wife, she was friends and close to others on the Navy bases where they resided or lived close by. Even as she was plagued with Alzheimer’s, she still retained a healthy long-term memory and managed to stay spry, feisty and spirited, visiting with neighbors on her front porch, regaling them with fun stories of her childhood; and sharing laughter with the residents and staff of Magnolia Court where she resided in her final months. When she was physically able, she also enjoyed visiting the SFA Gardens.
Donna also had a fondness for her pups and spent many hours on agility training. Her focus in life, however, was on her family. When family gatherings were held, lots of joking and pranks ensued, often from Donna herself. She will be greatly missed by her surviving children and spouses, including sons Rodney Jerome Mouton and Kirsten; Earl Bruce Mouton and Wanda; Kemit Wayne Mouton and Trisha; and one daughter, Connie Mouton Scroggins. Predeceasing her are husband Earl Francis; son Steven Lynn; and grandson Toby Scroggins. Also surviving her are grandchildren Carrie Grosch and Mark; Chris Mouton; Whitney Brown and Shannon; Shelby Mouton and Sarah; Russell Mouton; Grace Mouton; Scott Mouton and Chelsea; Amanda Mouton; Kellie Hooper and Weston; Kinsey Henson and Colin; Thomas Mouton and Sara; and Katie Mouton. Also, 26 great-grandchildren; and 11 great-great-grandchildren.
Celebration of Life service is planned for Monday, October 28, at 10:00am at Magnolia Court.
Arrangement are under the direction of Cason Monk-Metcalf Funeral Directors.