Dona Rose Burgoyne Hansen, age 83, passed away Sept. 23, 2010 in Duchesne. She was born in Montpelier, Idaho May 17, 1927 to John Melvin and Helen Hamblin Burgoyne. She was raised in Kanab, Utah.
From her earliest childhood she spent hours reciting poems and short stories to her mother, an accomplished drama coach, and performing them in front of an audience.
She attended Utah State University, where she majored in elementary education. In college she participated in many drama activities. She graduated from USU in 1948.
Dona met and married Raynold Hansen in college. They lived in Logan, Clarkston, Orderville, Cedar City, Salt Lake, and since 1959, Duchesne.
Her professional career involved teaching children and youth. She worked for the Duchesne County schools where she touched many lives as a teacher and a media coordinator. The children she taught felt the love she had for each of them. Dona loved books, reading and telling stories to children. She would attend summer school to find the latest children's books that had come out. She focused her dramatic talents on community and church productions, directing plays and musical productions.
One word to describe Dona is determination. When some said it couldn't be done, Dona always persisted and did it. She believed people were put on earth to succeed. She believed a job worth doing was a job worth doing well. She was involved in various church and civic organizations including hospital board, mother club, zoning committee and library committee. She chaired the cleanup committee which won for Duchesne the "Most Improved Town" in the state.
To her sons, their wives and her grandchildren she was a rock and an anchor. She loved to travel and expand her horizons. She took each of her grandchildren abroad in her travels. She held many positions in the L.D.S. church and was an ordinance worker in the temple.
Up to the time of her death she was still telling stories to children at church, who were impressed by her example of service and enduring to the end.
Dona is survived by her sons, Raynold Mark (Dixie) Hansen, Alaska; Douglas John (Connie) Hansen, Ogden; Don Burgoyne (Jill) Hansen, Duchesne; 11 grandchildren, 11 great grandchildren, brothers, John Lloyd (Nancy) Burgoyne, Tooele; and Roscoe Hamblin (Donna Gay) Burgoyne, Kanab.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, Raynold and grandson, Wally Hansen
Funeral services will be held Wed., Sept. 29, at 11 a.m. at the Duchesne LDS Stake Center. Friends may call Tuesday evening from 6-8 p.m. at the church and Wednesday 1 hour prior to the service.
Burial in the Duchesne Cemetery under direction of the Hullinger Mortuary.
Published in Uintah Basin Standard from September 27 to October 4, 2010