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Donna
M. Mitchell; loved family, friends and Friends
She saved the ribbons.
Blue and red, first and second place, they are some markers of Donna
M. Mitchell's life that her mother, Joanne, cherishes. Donna won them
during countless afternoons spent swimming or doing other things as
a little girl at the Fall River YMCA.
"She made me very proud," her mother says. When Donna grew
up, other things made her mother proud.
Donna, 29, didn't have to make Thanksgiving dinner for the guests
each year at the Best Western hotel in Fall River where she worked.
But she did. "With all the trimmings," boasts her mother.
She didn't have to take in a stray cat found at a warehouse where
a friend worked.
And she didn't have to stop at a Swansea bakery on Sundays to pick
up a slice of lemon-meringue pie for her mother. "She would always
do things like that. She was very generous."
Joanne shared her memories of a little girl, a teenager, and a woman
who sometimes held down two jobs to take care of her kids. As a child
growing up in Swansea, Donna had plenty of guests.
"We had sleep-overs," said Joanne. "I would call home
and she'd say, 'Can [a friend] stay for supper?' She always had friends
over. This continued throughout her school years."
Donna enjoyed gymnastics. And she was a cheerleader at Joseph Case
High School in Swansea, from which she graduated in 1991.
Donna wasn't into sports much, but she grew to love football. Defying
geography, she was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan. Donna also liked Boston
Bruins hockey.
Donna, who moved to Fall River, grew to have five or six close friends
in her 20s. During summers, they would make pilgrimages to Virginia
Beach to catch some rays.
She loved to watch the television show Friends. Sometimes, she would
go to a cousin's place in Franklin, Mass., for a Friends night
Other times, Donna would go to local bingo events, such as ones at
St. Anne's Church, Fall River, with her mother.
Donna had two daughters, Brooklyn and Joslynn Belanger. She wanted
them to be part of a family and planned to marry Robert Feeney of Fall
River next year. The two had gone to The Station together Thursday
night.
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