La Donne June Rhymer Gibbons

In Loving Memory
La Donne June Rhymer Gibbons
December 15, 1928 - October 17, 2024
 
Please join La Donne’s children 
Jon Gibbons, Jeffrey Gibbons, Janice Bonner, Jennifer Valdez, and Judi Gibbons 
in their grief at her passing and their joy of shared memories.
La Donne Gibbons passed from this life to the next on October 17, two months shy of her 96th birthday. She 
was raised in rural Pope County IL, and she retained her farm-girl pragmatism throughout her life. She 
graduated from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and married James Lawrence Gibbons. Six children 
followed over the next 12 years. After her oldest son’s unexpected death and a divorce, La Donne set out to 
make a good life for herself and her children. They settled in Terre Haute, In, where she worked for several 
years as a secretary, teacher’s assistant, and driver for the elderly. She was always active in church as both a 
pianist and a Sunday School teacher. As she did in Oak Park, she visited local nursing homes (and added 
prison) to share her music and her Christianity. She continued to be active and engaged in life into her 90s, 
although as time crept in and stole mobility, vision, and independence, it was tough for her to accept her 
growing need to rely on others, rather than being the one relied upon. Her daughters are known to say we 
came by our independence (others might say stubbornness) naturally.
La Donne was an exemplary woman who lived her Christian faith every day.
She loved being a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, and if she knew you, chances are pretty 
good she loved you, too.
She was preceded in death by her son, James Leslie Gibbons, her parents Sherman and Katherine Rhymer, and 
her brother, Donald Rhymer. She was laid to rest at the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery, Terre Haute, Indiana.
She leaves a legacy of love. If you would like to make a donation in her memory, she regularly donated to 
Riley Children’s Hospital, Mercy Ships, and Alice Lloyd College, and was wonderfully cared for by Hospice of 
the Wabash Valley and Majestic Care of Deming Park

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