Donna Fran Huseman Shaughnessy
Donna Fran Huseman Shaughnessy, 73, of Fredericktown, died Monday, July 2, 2018.
Donna was born August 26, 1944, in Charleroi, a daughter of the late Frank and Empi Laksonsen Huseman of Fredericktown.
Deceased, in addition to her parents, is her older sister, Delores “Honey” Doman.
Left to cherish her memory are her daughters, Cynthia Tarley and husband Joseph and Jenny Shaughnessy Palmer, both of Fredericktown, and four grandchildren, Joseph Tarley Jr. and wife Rebecca, Jeffrey Tarley, Jake Tarley and Reagan Palmer.
Upon graduation from Bethlehem-Center High School in Fredericktown in 1962, Donna studied business and professional communication at California University of Pennsylvania. She moved to Maryland, where she worked in the banking industry and met her husband, William Shaughnessy III, while he was stationed at Fort Meade after serving in Vietnam.
They were married in 1968 and lived in Massachusetts, where they raised their two daughters. She worked for the former BMC Durfee Trust Co. and Multibank in Fall River, Mass., the Spectator newspaper in Somerset, Mass., and as a manager of the former Rix discount drug stores based in Newton. Md. She was also active in Jaycees organization.
Donna was divorced and returned to her hometown of Fredericktown in 1984, where she resumed her studies at California University of Pennsylvania and earned a master’s degree in business administration, while raising her teenage daughters and caring for her aging parents. During her internship at the university, she started a center for commuters and nontraditional students that is still in existence today.
In 1993, she owned and operated Riverview Weekly, a small newspaper reporting on local news and sports in the Mon Valley area. She later started working for Centerville Clinics Inc. in 1998, where she recruited volunteers for the retired senior volunteer program and helped people access energy assistance during the winter months, until her retirement in 2012. She was also very proud of serving as a volunteer for the foster grandparent program from 2016 to 2017.
Donna enjoyed shopping at thrift stores and collecting antiques, caring for her plants and flowers and the companionship of her much-loved pets. Above all, her greatest joy came from spending time with her daughters and their families.
Despite being diagnosed with metastatic cancer in 2012, and whatever other challenges she faced in life, she never gave up and always found a reason to smile. She laughed with her daughters until her final days. In the words of her neurosurgeon’s physician assistant, “She has amazed us.” Her death was unexpected and from other natural causes. In the end, she prevailed against cancer, and of all her accomplishments, her strength and courage and will to survive will perhaps be her greatest legacy. May she rest in eternal peace now, free from any pain or struggle she has had to endure in her lifetime.
Everyone at UPMC-Presbyterian hospital and UPMC-Hillman Cancer Center, especially Dr. Lawrence Dade Ludsford and his medical team, gave Donna hope. Also, everyone at Southmont of Presbyterian SeniorCare in Washington provided her with care over the past several months.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made to Washington Area Humane Society, which helped to find her dog, Maddie, a forever home when she was no longer able to care for her.
Services were private and entrusted to Mariscotti Funeral Home in California, and officiated by Pastor Ken Custer of Grace United Methodist Church in Coal Center.