Donna May Minden

Childhood
Donna May Dyer, named after her uncle Don who was in the WWII at the time, was born August 12th 1945 on a hot Sunday in San Jose, California. Her two sisters, Carol and Beverly, were waiting for her to arrive eagerly. She was born into a loving family of 4. Her father, Andrew Dyer, was a car mechanic during the day and a security guard at night, whereas her mother Winona “Dorothy” Mitchell, worked in retail at Woolworth. They had the most beautiful marriage she had witnessed back then. One her most fond memories of her father was when he'd take her into work with him at a young age to show her off at work. At that time they didn't have car seats so she would stand next to her father and wrap her arms around him to keep steady. He made her feel very safe as they rode together. She loved her mother very much and she even thought of her as her role model even though she was the harsher and stricter parent. She recalled a time when they were over at her friends house for a holiday dinner and she kept on trying to say something but her mother was still talking and she yelled at her mother to shut up, which only got her a swift smack on her bum and she felt utterly humiliated though she knew she deserved it. Holidays were a stressful time for her and her family because they were very busy they had so many dinners and parties to attend, however they loved all of their friends and family so it was all worth it.
Money was never an issue for the Dyer clan and throughout her young life she never lacked for material things such as clothes, and food. But one of her familys favorite things to spend money on was incredible camping trips. During her summer holidays the family would pack up and go camping to places like Yosemite, Mount M...

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...says to me no matter how bad things get there's always someone who has it worse than you.
She was the one who showed me all of the nice things you could see if you looked at things a certain way, she taught me how to laugh and how to be a kind and understanding person and when I was younger I thought she was the best that she could do no wrong but everyone does make mistakes and she also showed me that it was okay to make them and by making mistakes you learn what not to do next time.
When my great grandma died, I wasn't able to go to her funeral, but I was able to go and see her grave with my mom. Afterwards we went to visit my grandmother and I was crying but she just told me all of the things that my great grandma could do now and it cheered me right up and kept me from missing her to much because she showed me how happy my great grandma probably was right then.