We spent part of Tuesday at the funeral of a friend and classmate, Donna Ensor Warner. The part of a classmate I will address later. Donna fought a four-year battle against cancer. She had a great positive attitude and was surround by family that cared. During her fight she stayed in touch with friends, classmates, Red Hats and members of Compassionate Friends, a group she started. She loved to play bingo and was a member of Gamber and Glyndon fire departments. I had the opportunity to photograph Donna and her husband, John renew their vows last summer. It was a great afternoon and the original wedding party took part in the ceremony. Now on to classmates. We were part of the Class of 1971 from Westminster High School. We have a reunion every five years and Donna was a very important part of the planning. The reunion and classmates were big to Donna. For the funeral service Debbie (Bauerlien) Long played and Doug Siepp sang, yes both were classmates. Officiating at the service was Dahl Drenning. No, as he joking pointed out, he was not a member of the class. He was a teacher when we were students at WHS. Now he is a man of the cloth. He performed one of the best services I have attended. Donna and her twin sister, Debbie has kept in touch with Drenning over the years and always invites him to reunions. We will celebrate our 40-year reunion next year and it will not be the same without Donna. She loved the planning of the event. The last reunion she did a lot of work to set-up a walk through the old high school, now East Middle. Many of the classmates hadn't been in the building since we graduated. Donna didn't make the tour or the reunion the next night as she was in the hospital, The year most of the class turned 50, she planned and organized a 50Th birthday party for class member, which was a big success. Donna will be missed.
