Donna Willett was born in Middleton N. S., and grew up in Nictaux, about three miles from there. Her education was done in Nictaux and in Nictaux Falls, and subsequently in Middleton Regional High School.
Her spiritual formation took place at the Nictaux United Baptist Church, where she made a decision to follow Christ at seven, and was baptized at 15 in the Nictaux River, below the mill. She is one of those people, and there are fewer each year, who experienced this act of baptism in the open air, in the nearest available body of water.
Donna began her interest in “volunteering” around the age of ten, when she rounded up all the younger children in her neighbourhood and took them to Sunday School and Mission Band, herself now a veteran of five years in those organizations. From the age of 15 she taught in the Sunday school, sang in the church Choir, took part in the Young People’s group, and participated in any fund-raising events around (including Crippled Children and Poppy Fund.)
In the spring of 1963, she attended a B.Y.P.U. Convention, after which she moved to Toronto to find work, making Parkdale Baptist Church her church home. There she continued to be part of the Sunday school (teaching) and the Choir, assisting also with the work Cora Berdan was doing with the C.G.I.T. Her Christian commitment led her in 1967-68 to the Baptist Training Institute in Brantford, where the Rev. Arthur McDowell was principal (his final year.)
Yorkminster Park drew her in the seventies for the evening services, and she became active in a singles group that was in full swing at that time. In 1976, she moved to Yorkminster Park “full time”. For nearly thirty years, she taught Sunday school here. Now she volunteers in the nursery, getting refreshments and the Bibles ready on Wednesday evenings, and in the kitchen whenever she is able. Her newest and so far most stimulating work is taking pictures in and around the church. She has put together two albums, and is working on a third. The completed ones are in the Gladstone Library.
Donna sees volunteering “as a way to say ‘thank you’ to God for all he has given,” and “for being her best friend.” She finds a lot of satisfaction when she sees the many children she has taught coming back to the church with their own families. She names Evelyn Gray, and Amy and Arlene Alfred among others. Then there are those who have become involved in mission work, among whom she remembers Susan Hill, and Glenn and Greg Kay.
In a few years she expects to retire, and already plans to join the Dorcas Group, quilting and encouraging others to join with her. Although never giving up on her volunteering activities, she hopes too to spend more time with her mother in Nova Scotia. Congratulations, Donna. May you be an inspiration to others.
