1940 – 2014

TOPSHAM — Donna Doris Burns departed this world on Sunday, Nov. 16, after a long and courageous battle with brain cancer. She will be forever remembered as a wife and mother who did anything and everything she could to make her family THE priority during her entire life.

Donna was the wife who kept the household running smoothly, basically doing everything that needed to be done to allow her husband, Paul, and her children, Teri, Jeffrey and Sheri, to accomplish their dreams. Donna “Mum” always provided her children with whatever they needed in life. She was the kind of mother who continually went without so her children could have more. Simply put, she made sacrifices for her family.

She was the kind of friend who was quick with a joke or sarcastic (but never hurtful) remark that would bring a smile or a laugh to anyone around her. She was the friend who would “pick something up at the store” not for any special occasion, but just because she thought they would enjoy it. She was the kind of co-worker who would bring some of her famous peanut butter fudge (with nuts) to share with her co-workers, and when told someone didn’t eat nuts, she would go home and make a batch without nuts, making a special delivery the very next day.

Donna was the oldest of three girls raised by her single mother, due to the death of her father when Donna was only 4 years old. She and her sisters, Dian and Mary, were raised by the village of her close extended family in Bath. It was there where she met and married R. Paul Burns in 1964, moving to Topsham in 1967, soon after the birth of their first baby.

She elected to and wanted to stay home to raise her three children, and did not return to the out-of-home workforce until her baby, Sheri, was going to school full time. Donna looked for and acquired a job that still allowed her to be home with her children as they got off the afternoon bus. As she has recently said, “All I really ever wanted to be was a good mom.” Safe to say, she accomplished her goal and exceeded the standard.

Donna is survived by her husband of 50 years, R. Paul Burns, of Topsham; two sisters, Dian Bruening and her husband, Joseph, and Mary Burns and her husband, Albert; three children and two bonus children, Teri Huntington and her husband, Gerald, Sheri Bryant and her husband, Dan, and Jeffrey Burns; and her bonus children, whom she loved as her own, Kevin Burns and his wife, Melody, and Kelly Burns. She also is survived by eight grandchildren.

For those unable to attend the service, memories and condolences may be expressed at www.brackettfunerlahome.com.