March 19, 1930 ~ September 23, 2025
Donna J. Fourman, age 95, of Greenville, passed away on Tuesday, September 23, 2025 at the Everheart Hospice Inpatient Unit. She was born March 19, 1930 to Floyd & Christina (Myers) Olinger in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
She is preceded in death by her parents; loving husband James Fourman; and sibling Miriam Waggoner.
She will be missed and remembered by her loving children Garry Fourman of Dublin, OH; Wanda (Waldy) Derksen of Winnipeg, Canada; grandchildren Nathan Fourman of Columbus, OH; Sarah Fourman (Brantley) Lawson of Roanoke, VA; Zachary Derksen and Noah Derksen of Winnipeg, Canada; and Tyler (Jillian) Derksen of Melbourne, Australia; and great-grandchild Arlo Derksen of Melbourne.
Just a week ago, she and her son walked together, both inside and outside the Brethren Retirement Community. Along the way, she pointed out a stained-glass window she had designed, still refracting light after all these years. That moment was a perfect reminder of how much of her life was devoted to creating beauty: quilts, rugs, clothes, and eventually works of stained-glass. What began as craft evolved into art, and many of those pieces will outlast us all.
Although born in Pittsburgh, her true story began on a small farm in Darke County. As a teenager, she moved with her family to Dayton, where she graduated from Fairview High School. She left college to marry a sharecropper’s son from her childhood home, who later became a teacher, and together they raised a family. Her children grew up wrapped in quilts she made, walking on rugs she braided, and wearing clothes she sewed with her own hands.
She was a quiet woman, yet her life spoke loudly through her kindness, her creativity, her love of laughter, and her determination. She sang in church choirs, dressed with care, and went to the gym regularly well into her nineties.
She lived a long, full, and good life. Her light will continue to shine through the stained-glass windows and lamps she created and the memories she leaves with us.
The family will receive friends from 1-2 PM on Saturday, September 27, 2025 at the Brethren’s Home Retirement Community with a funeral service beginning at 2:00 PM. Private interment will be held at the convenience of the family in Shiloh Park Cemetery, Dayton. Memorial contributions may be made to the Brethren Home Retirement Community Activity Fund. Online memories of Donna may be left for the family at www.hale-sarver.com.
