Donna Marie Scott April 21, 1948 - December 7, 2025

On April 21, 1948, Cecil Kramer had a dilemma. He was delivering his very pregnant wife, Dorothy Evangeline, from their farm home near Melvern, Kansas to the hospital in Topeka and time was swiftly running out. Not sure where Stormant Vail Hospital was, and many years before Google Maps, he flagged a cab and asked for directions. The cabbie calmly pointed across the street. They got a wheelchair, rolled her into the hospital and in ten minutes, Donna Marie was born. When the next daughter was born, the bridge over the river was out and they barely made it. Donna’s mom said that the toughest part of having a baby was getting to the hospital. They had the next four at home!

Donna was a country girl who grew up helping raise her five younger brothers and sisters as well as assisting her dad on the farm. Her dad was called to the Pacific WWII theater where he would spend three of his first six years of marriage. Upon returning home from the war, the Kramers made up for lost time. First Donna, then Deanna, then Janice, then Judy and then the boys, Jim and Jerry, all six were born in an eight-year period. Cecil farmed, Evangeline worked on the Air Force base in Topeka and Donna raised her brothers and sisters.

And the Kramers went to church—religiously! That solid Christian foundation gave good guidance as Donna developed her life’s priorities.

After she graduated in 1966 from Melvern High School, she was planning to enroll at Bartlesville Wesleyan College until the Kramers attended church one Sunday at the Overland Park Church of God (Holiness) and went home with Dr. Dale Yocum’s family for dinner. Dr. Yocum talked to Donna about Kansas City College and Bible School and she changed her plans and went to KCCBS.

A year later a young man from Lowry City enrolled at KCCBS and over the next year and a half she won his heart. It didn’t take much effort as he was captivated by her grace and beauty the first time he laid eyes on her. Donna and Delbert were married on November 28, 1969.

They were ready to start their senior year of college at KCCBS but God had different plans. A week before school started, they decided to answer a call to teach at Mt. Zion Bible School, near Ava, Missouri. They moved their newly purchased 12’x65’ mobile home from the KCCBS campus to a mobile home park in Springfield where at the last minute a lot opened up at exactly the right location and also served as launching point for a new bus route to take students from Springfield to Mt. Zion. Their teaching careers were underway.

After one year of teaching, they paused to finish their college degrees. After checking with each of the five colleges in Springfield they chose Southwest Missouri State College (now Missouri State University) which was not only the least expensive, but which transferred nearly all of their hours from KCCBS.

A year and a half later there were two big changes in their lives. They both received their teaching degrees (with lifetime certificates) and they had a brand-new baby, Todd Anthony!

Donna’s life goal was to be an elementary teacher. And a great teacher she was. For two years she taught in the Mansfield Public School System before their move back to Lowry City where she taught at Lakeland RIII.

Into this growing family of three, came Timothy Wayne in the fall of 1975. As you might guess, raising two boys took a lot of energy but somehow she found just enough to be a “boy mom” and to teach school full time. Tiffany Lynette joined the family on December 30, 1980 and now with her girl, Donna’s home was complete.

She was soon back to teaching as her church had opened their own school, Lowry City Christian School, in 1982 with Donna as the head instructor. For 27 years she taught school and helped her students expand their God-given talents and abilities. She not only taught reading and writing but by her life she modeled a Godly character and taught her students, girls in particular, how they could grow up to be lovely, honorable and productive.

When she became the “First Lady” of Kansas Christian College in 2009 there was a need for a Home Economics teacher at Overland Christian High School. She agreed to take the position, envisioning a classroom full of eager girls, anxious to learn how to cook. When classes started, she found that most of her students were international Korean boys! But she taught them all and they loved her for it.

She took on any job that needed done on the KCC campus including contacting and recruiting new college students, keeping the campus clean, and helping decorate for events by making everything a bit more beautiful.

Donna Scott was a special person to everyone she met because she let each one know that they were special to her. Her kindness and her care for others shone through and reflected the character of Christ.

The serious brain bleeds of late 2019 did not define her nor stop her efforts to bless others. She continued to love and serve in any way she could. She even decided to start playing her flute in the church band again, and although her eyesight was seriously affected by the strokes, she was determined to play every Sunday. Though she suffered intense back pain as a result of a car accident in 2023, she did everything she could to keep her home and family in order.

On the morning of December 6, 2025, she suffered a massive brain bleed. This time there would be no long recovery or months of therapy. From Cox South Hospital in Springfield, she was summoned to Heaven about noon on Sunday, December 7. She was surrounded by a packed room of friends and family singing “Amazing Grace.” As a teenager she fully surrendered her life to Christ and never wavered in her commitment to Him. Her daily prayer life and journaling across decades tell the story of her extensive prayer list and the answers that God supplied.

She was proceeded in death by her parents, Cecil and Evangeline Kramer of Melvern, Kansas and her in-laws, Donovan and Loretta Scott of Lowry City, Missouri.

Left to mourn her passing is her husband of 56 years, Delbert Scott; Sons Todd and wife Kelly of Columbia, MO and grandsons Landen (Colorado Christian University, Denver) and Brennan (a senior at Rockbridge High School); Timothy and wife Kelly of Lowry City, MO and granddaughters, Isabelle Bryson, Columbia, Olivia Bryson (Johnson County Community College, Overland Park) and Sofia Bryson (University of Missouri – Columbia); and daughter Tiffany and husband Derek Bond of Excello, MO and grandson, Clay (God’s Bible School and College, Cincinnati, Ohio), and granddaughters Brooke and Olivia of Bond Home School. She was a doting grandmother who fiercely loved her grandchildren and prayed for them intensely every day.

Surviving siblings include Deanna Willard, Wichita, KS; Janice Gordeuk, Hobe Sound, FL; Judy McIntosh, Emporia, KS; Jim Kramer, Yakima, WA; and Jerry Kramer, Melvern, KS. Her many nieces and nephews (and great-nieces and nephews) loved and adored their Aunt Donna.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to The Kansas Christian College Donna Scott Scholarship. Please make contributions in care of Sheldon-Goodrich Funeral Home P.O. Box 384 Osceola, Missouri 64776.

Envelopes for Donna’s Memorial are available at the Lowry City Church Of God (Holiness)