Donna Vanchiere

Donna Grace Powers Vanchiere-mother, grandmother, wife, nurse, musician, and faithful servant of God-passed peacefully to eternal life on August 13, 2025, after a full and wonderful life. Many who knew her will be comforted by the thought of Donna back on the organ bench, ringing the bells and sounding the organ at full throttle before the heavenly altar!

Donna grew up in Macon, Georgia and was raised by her mother, Grace, and her grandparents. She and her brother, Fred, were also guided in their early years by their spirited and loving aunts and uncle: Bubba, Nita, Julie, and John. Her grandfather raised chickens, rabbits, and pigs, and she was particularly fond of a pig named Henry who "disappeared" under somewhat mysterious circumstances one year near Easter. Donna and Fred were known to happily play with trains in the coal bins. She played field hockey while in school, and played piano as part of a dance band. The absence of her father left a void which impacted her entire life. As an older adult, after the passing of her mother and brother, Donna met eight additional brothers and sisters.

In 1964, Donna married Charles Michael "Buzzy" Vanchiere, then a recent graduate of LSU Medical School in New Orleans. After Buzzy's stint in the Army, they settled in Lake Charles in 1971 with four young children, adding a fifth shortly thereafter. For years, big Italian meals were shared with the Timpa, Ciambotti, and Tuminello families after church on Sundays. Known for their hospitality and cooking, Donna and Buzzy would entertain for church, school, and community fundraising efforts, always having room for one more at the table. The physicians and staff of The Children's Clinic, where Buzzy was a partner, were their extended family for over three decades.

Donna's greatest honor was serving God and His holy people. A pianist and organist since childhood, she was the principal organist and music director at St. Margaret Catholic Church for nearly 50 years, and she had visited every Catholic church in the Diocese of Lake Charles on multiple occasions to assist with liturgical celebrations. She was engaged regionally and nationally with the implementation of liturgical standards for Catholic churches, work that established many cherished friendships throughout the state and around the country. Completion of a doctoral degree in Ministry was one of her proudest personal accomplishments, allowing her to be called "doctor" if she needed to exert some extra swagger in the right moment. In her service to the Church, Sr. Gerard Earles and Michele Martin have been her dearest friends, collaborators, and co-conspirators for over three decades. Her service and faithfulness were recognized during her lifetime by her induction into the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem and the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great.

Donna's faith played a foundational role in her service as a nurse. Donna completed her nursing degree at St. Joseph's Infirmary School of Nursing in Atlanta, Georgia in 1964, under the close (and strict!) guidance of the Sisters of Mercy. She was raised in the Episcopal Church, and converted to Catholicism at the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia while attending nursing school. Her nursing career of over 60 years included work in obstetrics, psychiatry, case management, ethics, and palliative care. Donna traveled to Romania three times to assist with the medical care for children with HIV-AIDS, trips that profoundly impacted her focus on the needs of children locally. As a Certified Bereavement Counselor at CHRISTUS St. Patrick Hospital, she assisted many families with the transition of loved ones from this life to the next, including during the COVID pandemic. In the years before her retirement, she would routinely perform over 400 palliative care consultations annually, proudly keeping ownership of her whispered nickname, BadA**. Not uncommonly, families would contact her years after the loss of a loved one to thank her for her kind and gentle assistance. Her mantra "Presence is the only authentic gift" lives on in those she taught and in her extended family.

Donna was a generous giver, anonymously supporting tuition scholarships for children at St. Margaret Catholic School for years. She once offered to hospital administration that she would give up her daily Snickers and Diet Coke and give the money to the hospital so a co-worker could get a small raise in pay. The co-worker received the pay raise, and she continued her daily snacks without interruption!

She loved the beach, roses, children playing, ice cream, deviled eggs, Tuaca in sweet potatoes, murder mystery novels, playing cards with her grandchildren, a full dinner table, playing for school masses at St. Margaret's, and learning. Donna took tremendous pride in the academic and life accomplishments of her children and grandchildren. While the demands of raising a large family prevented her from making it to every baseball or basketball game, she nevertheless cheered loudly for every player on the court or field (regardless of team affiliation) during the games she attended. With humor, she said that she could tell which girls on the basketball court had brothers by the way they played. And she waited up many a night in the living room chair to ensure that all of her children were safely home by curfew, and not out "cruising". In her later years, Donna's sense of mischief and humor came to the fore, generating many smiles among her children, grandchildren, and friends. And she always had "pocket money" at the ready for her grandchildren as teens and young adults.

Donna is preceded in death by her husband, Charles Michael "Buzzy" Vanchiere, Sr.; her mother, Grace Baumgartner Powers; her brother, Karl Frederick Powers; her grandparents, Beulah and Charles Baumgartner; her aunts, Ida "Bubba" Farr, Anita Evans, Ruth Sandefur, and Julie Baumgartner; her uncle, John Baumgartner; her nephew, Christopher Powers; and her father, Donald Powers.

Donna is survived by her five children and their spouses, as well as a bouquet of nineteen grandchildren and one great-granddaughter who will join the family next month: Mike and Kay Vanchiere and their sons Joe and Jim; John and Margaret Vanchiere and their children Katie (Austin Kipp), Julia, Caroline (Shaya Khorsandi), Peter, Martha, and Margaret; Catherine and James Beane and their sons Wendell, Nick, Atticus, and Malcolm; Andrew Vanchiere and Paula Gant and their sons Jack, Charles, Drew, Mason Meyer, and Ben; and Paul and Laura Vanchiere and their daughters Anna, Camille, and Ellie. She is also survived by relatives in the Cannatella, Kellerman, Baumgartner, Powers, Evans, Bretzman, and other families in Louisiana, Georgia, Texas, and other states; and by many friends and co-workers in Lake Charles and other places.

Visitation will be Friday, August 22, 2025, from 4:00pm until 7:00pm with a Rosary to be recited at 6:00pm at Johnson Funeral Home, 4321 Lake St. Lake Charles, LA. 70605. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Saturday, August 23, 2025, beginning at 10:30am at St Margaret Catholic Church, 2500 Enterprise Blvd. Lake Charles, LA. 70601. Burial will follow the Mass at Consolata Cemetery.

Donna's family would like to thank Teresa Drake and the employees of K&C Home Care, the staff of Brookdale Senior Living in Shreveport, Beverly Bradley, Wanda Anderson, and Wanda Joseph who all took very good care of Donna over the past year.

In lieu of flowers, friends and colleagues are directed to the following organizations that were dear to Donna where they can make donations in her memory: St. Margaret Catholic School, The United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, Reach Out and Read, and Breakthrough T1D (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation). (See https://pediatricsupport.com/donna for links to these organizations.)