Donna Marie (Willis) Brown
Donna Marie (Willis) Brown, 74, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, died Tuesday, November 25, 2014. She was born on Saturday, June 22, 1940, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to James Thomas Willis and Virginia Amy (Lineberry). Her family moved often but she considered herself as being from Oklahoma City. She graduated in 1958 from Capitol Hill High School and in 1987 earned her Bachelor of Musical Arts in Music and Psychology from the University of Oklahoma.
She married her best friend, Wayne E. Brown, on June 26, 1959 in Oklahoma City and they had two children. During their marriage they lived in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Ohio and North Carolina. They divorced in 1984.
Donna's passions centered around faith, family, reading and music all of which were interdependent. Her faith in God was one of the more important aspects of who she was and was completely interwoven into her passions.
For as long as Donna could remember she loved words – she read them, sang them, wrote them, typed them, transcribed them, studied them, evaluated them, rearranged them and changed her life by understanding them. She was extraordinarily gifted with reading, typing, writing and proof-reading. She stayed proficient with the newest technologies to read, write, hear and process words and loved helping others with words. For her, reading (words) wasn't just about the entertainment value in a book, but it was about the development of the mind, the cultivation of ideas and refining the way you interact with others and the world we live in. She said to us 'Go forth and read – widely. And learn and grow because of it.'
As a child Donna loved hearing her mother sing along with the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts and dreamed of being an opera singer herself. To fulfill this dream she was active in church and community choirs and studied vocal music formally and informally her entire life. Her first performances consisted of a duet in junior high school then two solos in high school. In 1971, while living in Durham, North Carolina, she auditioned before conductor John Peterson and composer Don Wyrtzen and was the selected soloist for the well attended "1,000 Voices Singing for Christ" that filled the Duke University Stadium. Upon returning to Oklahoma in 1981 she performed as a leading soprano in the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company for 20 years. With that company she interpreted many of the great Verdi soprano roles as well as roles in hundreds of performances in the Broadway show tune repertoire of the company.
Writing was a process Donna first recognized she enjoyed when she wrote the article “I'm not the Grandmother” of her experience during and after her pregnancy with her son. Through Toastmasters she refined her skill in writing and giving speeches. For the past several years Donna's interest in genealogy intensified and her research skills soared giving her another avenue to pursue her passions.
In one of Donna's speeches and in a letter for her grandchildren on their 18th birthday she said “In this river of life, your mission is to uncover your song (not just discover it, because it's been there all along) and once you uncover it, sing it for all you're worth. When the river of life joins with the sea of eternity – the sea will not be complete without my melody and yours.” She hunted, collected, assimilated and wrote words to uncover and share her melody and it remains alive.
Donna is preceded in death by her parents and two grandsons, Austin Clark Bauman and Zane David Brown. She is survived by two children, Kay Bauman and her husband Keith of Oklahoma City and David Brown and his wife Jennifer of Mustang, Oklahoma; one brother, Mickey Willis of Moore, Oklahoma; three grandchildren, Travis and Kelsey Bauman of Oklahoma City, and Aaron Brown of Mustang.
Memorial services will be held 10:00 AM, Friday, December 5, 2014 at Southern Hills Baptist Church, 8901 S. Penn, Oklahoma City, OK. Services are under the direction of John M. Ireland Funeral Home and Chapel, Moore, OK.
Donna Marie (Willis) Brown, 74, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, died Tuesday, November 25, 2014. She was born on Saturday, June 22, 1940, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to James Thomas Willis and Virginia Amy (Lineberry). Her family moved often but she considered herself as being from Oklahoma City. She graduated in 1958 from Capitol Hill High School and in 1987 earned her Bachelor of Musical Arts in Music and Psychology from the University of Oklahoma.
She married her best friend, Wayne E. Brown, on June 26, 1959 in Oklahoma City and they had two children. During their marriage they lived in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Ohio and North Carolina. They divorced in 1984.
Donna's passions centered around faith, family, reading and music all of which were interdependent. Her faith in God was one of the more important aspects of who she was and was completely interwoven into her passions.
For as long as Donna could remember she loved words – she read them, sang them, wrote them, typed them, transcribed them, studied them, evaluated them, rearranged them and changed her life by understanding them. She was extraordinarily gifted with reading, typing, writing and proof-reading. She stayed proficient with the newest technologies to read, write, hear and process words and loved helping others with words. For her, reading (words) wasn't just about the entertainment value in a book, but it was about the development of the mind, the cultivation of ideas and refining the way you interact with others and the world we live in. She said to us 'Go forth and read – widely. And learn and grow because of it.'
As a child Donna loved hearing her mother sing along with the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts and dreamed of being an opera singer herself. To fulfill this dream she was active in church and community choirs and studied vocal music formally and informally her entire life. Her first performances consisted of a duet in junior high school then two solos in high school. In 1971, while living in Durham, North Carolina, she auditioned before conductor John Peterson and composer Don Wyrtzen and was the selected soloist for the well attended "1,000 Voices Singing for Christ" that filled the Duke University Stadium. Upon returning to Oklahoma in 1981 she performed as a leading soprano in the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company for 20 years. With that company she interpreted many of the great Verdi soprano roles as well as roles in hundreds of performances in the Broadway show tune repertoire of the company.
Writing was a process Donna first recognized she enjoyed when she wrote the article “I'm not the Grandmother” of her experience during and after her pregnancy with her son. Through Toastmasters she refined her skill in writing and giving speeches. For the past several years Donna's interest in genealogy intensified and her research skills soared giving her another avenue to pursue her passions.
In one of Donna's speeches and in a letter for her grandchildren on their 18th birthday she said “In this river of life, your mission is to uncover your song (not just discover it, because it's been there all along) and once you uncover it, sing it for all you're worth. When the river of life joins with the sea of eternity – the sea will not be complete without my melody and yours.” She hunted, collected, assimilated and wrote words to uncover and share her melody and it remains alive.
Donna is preceded in death by her parents and two grandsons, Austin Clark Bauman and Zane David Brown. She is survived by two children, Kay Bauman and her husband Keith of Oklahoma City and David Brown and his wife Jennifer of Mustang, Oklahoma; one brother, Mickey Willis of Moore, Oklahoma; three grandchildren, Travis and Kelsey Bauman of Oklahoma City, and Aaron Brown of Mustang.
Memorial services will be held 10:00 AM, Friday, December 5, 2014 at Southern Hills Baptist Church, 8901 S. Penn, Oklahoma City, OK. Services are under the direction of John M. Ireland Funeral Home and Chapel, Moore, OK.
Donna Marie (Willis) Brown
Donna Marie (Willis) Brown, 74, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, died Tuesday, November 25, 2014. She was born on Saturday, June 22, 1940, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to James Thomas Willis and Virginia Amy (Lineberry). Her family moved often but she considered herself as being from Oklahoma City. She graduated in 1958 from Capitol Hill High School and in 1987 earned her Bachelor of Musical Arts in Music and Psychology from the University of Oklahoma.
She married her best friend, Wayne E. Brown, on June 26, 1959 in Oklahoma City and they had two children. During their marriage they lived in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Ohio and North Carolina. They divorced in 1984.
Donna's passions centered around faith, family, reading and music all of which were interdependent. Her faith in God was one of the more important aspects of who she was and was completely interwoven into her passions.
For as long as Donna could remember she loved words – she read them, sang them, wrote them, typed them, transcribed them, studied them, evaluated them, rearranged them and changed her life by understanding them. She was extraordinarily gifted with reading, typing, writing and proof-reading. She stayed proficient with the newest technologies to read, write, hear and process words and loved helping others with words. For her, reading (words) wasn't just about the entertainment value in a book, but it was about the development of the mind, the cultivation of ideas and refining the way you interact with others and the world we live in. She said to us 'Go forth and read – widely. And learn and grow because of it.'
As a child Donna loved hearing her mother sing along with the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts and dreamed of being an opera singer herself. To fulfill this dream she was active in church and community choirs and studied vocal music formally and informally her entire life. Her first performances consisted of a duet in junior high school then two solos in high school. In 1971, while living in Durham, North Carolina, she auditioned before conductor John Peterson and composer Don Wyrtzen and was the selected soloist for the well attended "1,000 Voices Singing for Christ" that filled the Duke University Stadium. Upon returning to Oklahoma in 1981 she performed as a leading soprano in the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company for 20 years. With that company she interpreted many of the great Verdi soprano roles as well as roles in hundreds of performances in the Broadway show tune repertoire of the company.
Writing was a process Donna first recognized she enjoyed when she wrote the article “I'm not the Grandmother” of her experience during and after her pregnancy with her son. Through Toastmasters she refined her skill in writing and giving speeches. For the past several years Donna's interest in genealogy intensified and her research skills soared giving her another avenue to pursue her passions.
In one of Donna's speeches and in a letter for her grandchildren on their 18th birthday she said “In this river of life, your mission is to uncover your song (not just discover it, because it's been there all along) and once you uncover it, sing it for all you're worth. When the river of life joins with the sea of eternity – the sea will not be complete without my melody and yours.” She hunted, collected, assimilated and wrote words to uncover and share her melody and it remains alive.
Donna is preceded in death by her parents and two grandsons, Austin Clark Bauman and Zane David Brown. She is survived by two children, Kay Bauman and her husband Keith of Oklahoma City and David Brown and his wife Jennifer of Mustang, Oklahoma; one brother, Mickey Willis of Moore, Oklahoma; three grandchildren, Travis and Kelsey Bauman of Oklahoma City, and Aaron Brown of Mustang.
Memorial services will be held 10:00 AM, Friday, December 5, 2014 at Southern Hills Baptist Church, 8901 S. Penn, Oklahoma City, OK. Services are under the direction of John M. Ireland Funeral Home and Chapel, Moore, OK.
Donna Marie (Willis) Brown, 74, of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, died Tuesday, November 25, 2014. She was born on Saturday, June 22, 1940, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to James Thomas Willis and Virginia Amy (Lineberry). Her family moved often but she considered herself as being from Oklahoma City. She graduated in 1958 from Capitol Hill High School and in 1987 earned her Bachelor of Musical Arts in Music and Psychology from the University of Oklahoma.
She married her best friend, Wayne E. Brown, on June 26, 1959 in Oklahoma City and they had two children. During their marriage they lived in Oklahoma, Texas, California, Ohio and North Carolina. They divorced in 1984.
Donna's passions centered around faith, family, reading and music all of which were interdependent. Her faith in God was one of the more important aspects of who she was and was completely interwoven into her passions.
For as long as Donna could remember she loved words – she read them, sang them, wrote them, typed them, transcribed them, studied them, evaluated them, rearranged them and changed her life by understanding them. She was extraordinarily gifted with reading, typing, writing and proof-reading. She stayed proficient with the newest technologies to read, write, hear and process words and loved helping others with words. For her, reading (words) wasn't just about the entertainment value in a book, but it was about the development of the mind, the cultivation of ideas and refining the way you interact with others and the world we live in. She said to us 'Go forth and read – widely. And learn and grow because of it.'
As a child Donna loved hearing her mother sing along with the Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts and dreamed of being an opera singer herself. To fulfill this dream she was active in church and community choirs and studied vocal music formally and informally her entire life. Her first performances consisted of a duet in junior high school then two solos in high school. In 1971, while living in Durham, North Carolina, she auditioned before conductor John Peterson and composer Don Wyrtzen and was the selected soloist for the well attended "1,000 Voices Singing for Christ" that filled the Duke University Stadium. Upon returning to Oklahoma in 1981 she performed as a leading soprano in the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company for 20 years. With that company she interpreted many of the great Verdi soprano roles as well as roles in hundreds of performances in the Broadway show tune repertoire of the company.
Writing was a process Donna first recognized she enjoyed when she wrote the article “I'm not the Grandmother” of her experience during and after her pregnancy with her son. Through Toastmasters she refined her skill in writing and giving speeches. For the past several years Donna's interest in genealogy intensified and her research skills soared giving her another avenue to pursue her passions.
In one of Donna's speeches and in a letter for her grandchildren on their 18th birthday she said “In this river of life, your mission is to uncover your song (not just discover it, because it's been there all along) and once you uncover it, sing it for all you're worth. When the river of life joins with the sea of eternity – the sea will not be complete without my melody and yours.” She hunted, collected, assimilated and wrote words to uncover and share her melody and it remains alive.
Donna is preceded in death by her parents and two grandsons, Austin Clark Bauman and Zane David Brown. She is survived by two children, Kay Bauman and her husband Keith of Oklahoma City and David Brown and his wife Jennifer of Mustang, Oklahoma; one brother, Mickey Willis of Moore, Oklahoma; three grandchildren, Travis and Kelsey Bauman of Oklahoma City, and Aaron Brown of Mustang.
Memorial services will be held 10:00 AM, Friday, December 5, 2014 at Southern Hills Baptist Church, 8901 S. Penn, Oklahoma City, OK. Services are under the direction of John M. Ireland Funeral Home and Chapel, Moore, OK.
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