Donna Esther Lacy Gechter, age 93, passed away peacefully on March 13, 2018 with her family by her side. She was living at Lake Country Assisted Living LLC in Fort Worth, Texas.
Donna Gechter was born March 4, 1925 in Everest, Kansas. She was the daughter of the late Mr. & Mrs. William Wesley Lacy. She was a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, a nurse and a farmer’s wife.
Donna became a registered nurse in 1945 after studying at the Hillman Hospital Training School for Nurses in Birmingham, Alabama. During the third year of her training she became a member of the United States Cadet Nurses Corp. After graduating she returned to Kansas and married her high school sweetheart, “Billy” Gechter. Donna started her nursing career as a part-time private nurse before working full-time at Horton Hospital. She became Director of Nursing at Tri-County Manor when it opened in 1975 and later was Director of Nurses at Maple Heights Nursing Home in Hiawatha and Jackson County Nursing Home in Holton. She retired in 1989. In addition to caring for the sick and elderly, Donna helped her husband run the family farm. These duties were combined with the raising of two boys. Donna truly lived life to the fullest through simple pleasures: picking up seashells at the beach, playing card games with the family, taking the grandchildren to the park, crocheting and ending her day with a glass of wine. She also enjoyed reading and listening to books, ceramics and traveling. She was a member of The Order of the Eastern Star. Donna and her late husband traveled to Texas often to visit their sons and their families. Around 2010 she moved to Texas permanently. Even though she made the move to Texas her heart remained in Kansas.
Donna was predeceased by her loving husband of 53 years, William Oliver Gechter.
She is survived by her sons William Loren Gechter and wife Sharon and David Alan Gechter and wife Jean, both of Weatherford, Texas; four grandchildren – David Loren Gechter and wife Michelle of Weatherford, Texas, Robert Wesley Gechter and wife Susan of Bedford, Texas, Candace June George and husband Josh of Azle, Texas and Katherine Marie Gechter of Canberra, Australia. She had six great-grandchildren – Tristan, lacy and Will George, Ashlyn Gechter, and Elise and Anna Gechter. She is also survived by seven nieces.
