Mae LaVonne McDonald

Kearney, NE- Mae LaVonne McDonald age 72 of Kearney, formerly of Arcadia died Monday February 13, 2012 at the Good Samaritan Hospital in Kearney. Funeral services will be held on Saturday February 18, 2012 at 10:30 AM at the United Methodist Church in Arcadia with Darrel Sybrant officiating. Burial will be in the Lee Park Cemetery near Arcadia. Govier Bros. Mortuary of Broken Bow is in charge of the arrangements. Visitation will be held on Friday, 8 AM to 8 PM with the family greeting friends 6 PM to 8 PM at Govier Bros. Mortuary. Memorials have been established to the Gathering Place in Arcadia or the Arcadia Fire and Rescue. Mae LaVonne and her twin Kay Lorene were born January 22, 1940 to Edgar and A. Doris Slingsby in a little house near Westerville. In the fall of that year, the family moved to California and returned back to Nebraska when she was five. She attended grade school at the Knight country school outside of Westerville. She spent her first two high school years in Ansley where she was a cheerleader and the last two years in Arcadia where she was a band majorette. This is where she met her future husband Joe McDonald. To this union four children were born – Tammy, Michael, Douglas and Laurie. After they were married Joe took a job with a construction company that built roads, bridges and Dams. They moved their family around with the jobs, mainly in Kansas. They moved back to Ansley in 1965. In April of 1966 she started work at Becton Dickinson in Broken Bow where she worked for almost thirty years. After retirement they moved to Arcadia and after Joe died in 2008 she moved to a retirement community in Kearney. She loved to cook, bake and can fruits and vegetables. She was especially well known for the candy she made every Christmas for friends, family and neighbors. She was always busy. When she wasn’t cooking and baking she was doing embroidery . Her family was her life. She really enjoyed the school programs and attending all the sporting events her kids and grandkids were involved with. She loved to golf and was an avid Husker Volleyball fan. She is survived by her brother Gaylord (Evelyn) Slingsby of Ansley, Bernard (Barbara) Slingsby of Grand Island and sister Charlotte (Lonnie) Schnacker of Kearney. Her children Tammy (Danny) Woolstrum of Ansley, Michael (Ramona) McDonald of Glenrock, Wyoming, Douglas (Marsha) McDonald of Queencreek, Arizona and Laurie (Patrick) Holeman of Westerville, eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren. She was proceded in death by her parents Edgar and A. Doris Slingsby, her husband Joe, her twin sister Lorene, her grandson-in-law Neil Mills and a great grandson Avery Tiensvold.