SOUTH PARIS – Donetta Kimball, 78, of Buckfield died Wednesday, Feb. 27.

She was born in Gardiner on July 31, 1929, the daughter of Maurice B. and Beatrice Benson Peters and was educated in the Gardiner schools. She was always an outdoor person and a horse handler from an early age.

Taught by her father how to train and get along with horses, she worked with them most of her life. A special event in the early days, she competed in the women’s riding division from all New England states at the Gene Autry Championship Rodeo visiting the Boston Gardens. She received first in the women’s event for her riding ability on her horse Lucky and was presented her reward by Gene Autry in person.

She later moved to Davie, Fla., in the early 1950s and was self-employed in the ranch business on large acreage of rented land and kept numerous cattle and horses. She moved back to Maine in 1969, and later married W.R. Kimball of Waterford in 1974, and they cleared land and settled in Buckfield and had lived there for many years.

She always liked working on the land, plants, animals and building. She enjoyed her many friends from the Norway Congregation of Jehovah’s Witness and was an active member since 1989 in the World Wide Bible educational work.

She is survived by two sisters, Arlene Downy of Gardiner and Peggy Estes of Buckfield; and nieces, nephews and stepchildren.