#12 of 52...Donna Jane Thomason

I'm kicking off a four week series on the women ancestors in my family tree as part of my 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  I'm a little late to say that this is for Women's History month seeing as how March is almost over with; but it is in the spirit of this special month that I am doing this.  I'm keeping this to women that have already passed.  I'm starting out with the most important female in my family tree, my Mama, Donna Jane Thomason.  You can see a photo of her here.

Donna Jane Thomason was born 15 May 1957 at Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.  I was born at the same hospital some 20 years later.  Jane, as she was called, was the second child of Berney Jack Thomason, SR and Shirley Lucille Ivey. Their children are:

Berney Jack Thomason, JR "Jackie" (1955-2003)
Donna Jane Thomason (1957-2006)
Janet Elaine Thomason (living)
Beverly June Thomason (living)
Julie Shirlene Thomason (living)

All of the children are called by their J names.  So it is Jackie, Jane, Janet, June and Julie.  say that five times fast!

Mama grew up in Newton County, Georgia.  She at one time lived out on Airport Road and another time near a Pecan Grove off Hwy 36.  She met my daddy, Kenneth Curran, at church, I believe it was and they were married 24 Jun 1975 (I think) in Rockdale County, Georgia.  The story is that they went to Newton County but they wouldn't do it because they knew my Granddaddy Jack and said no way.  They eloped; didn't tell anyone and just did it.  I have the dress she wore that day; it's blue with big red strawberries on it.  She was tiny; as I wore the thing when I was in the fourth grade.  Mama was only 5ft tall.  I'm 5ft 4in.  She was very thin back then.

My parents had two beautiful albeit smart-mouthed daughters.

1). Sarah Latisha Curran (living)
2). Amanda Jolene Curran (living)

Mama didn't finish high school, she got married.  She did get her GED though. Mama worked at varying jobs off and on when it was necessary but for the most part she was home with me and my sister.  She and daddy did work with the PTA once in a while and she volunteered one year for Girl Scouts. She also volunteered for a short time to do a church sponsored girls club. One year she home-schooled my sister.

Mama loved the Appalachian mountains especially in North Carolina around Cherokee.  She loved to camp.  She enjoyed dropping a line to fish.  She loved rainy days and nights.  She would sit on the front porch of the old house we rented with the tin roof and listen to the rain and thunder, watching the lightening.  Mama loved to delve into the fictional worlds of Romance Novels.  She was a voracious reader.   She liked telling ghost stories and theorizing on the existence of aliens (she believed they were real).  She played "make-believe" with me and my sister.  She taught us to use our imagination.

Late 2005 she was diagnosed with leukemia after many, many months of the doctor not taking her symptoms seriously.  Because she was a an obese woman he blamed all of her varying symptoms on her menstrual cycle and obesity.  When she was at Emory hospital she found out a guy she knew when she was young had written a book about his childhood.  I ordered the book and had it sent to her.  She loved reading it and called me up and told me, "he wrote about me."  She swore that the Jane in his book in Chapter 10 was her! It brought her great laughter to read that story.  The book is called, "Boyz in the Grove" by Rick Darby.

Mama lost her battle with leukemia on May 18, 2006; she had just turned 49 years old.

I miss her every single day.