Obituary of Madonna Leigh Farris McDonald

Madonna "Donna" Leigh Farris McDonald, age 73, passed away on March 7, 2014. The Celebration of Life is 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 11, 2014 in the chapel at Sellars Funeral Home. Visitation is 6-8 p.m. on Monday and from 4 p.m. until the service on Tuesday at Sellars Funeral Home. She was born in Inglewood in East Nashville TN to the late Paul Knox Farris and Ruth Coleman Farris; also predeceased by Ken Whitehouse, half-brother of Shanawa WI. She is survived by half-sister Pauline Jordt, Sturgeon Bay WI; sons: Rick McDonald and Rusty McDonald (Jackie) of Lebanon TN and Rob McDonald of Nashville; and grandchildren: Brooke (Chad) Gentry of Nashville TN, Morgan, Jack, and Hope McDonald of Lebanon TN;; father of sons: Paul McDonald; cousins: Marie White and Jim Bittle of Knoxville TN, Cleo Rhodes and Troy Rhodes and their families of Parsons TN. She graduated from Isaac Litton High School's wonderful class of 1958 and attended MTSU until she married Paul L. McDonald and moved to the Crieve Hall area and began raising a family. She attended classes at UT Nashville, Belmont College, and finally Vanderbilt University to earn credits toward her degree. She was Assistant Director of The American Association of State and Local History for eight years where she was in charge of the annual convention held in various parts of the country each year. She was very active in a number of organizations and served on the board of directors of Franklin Road Academy where her sons attended school. She next went to HCA where she held several middle management positions before transferring to Hudson, FL, as Personnel Director of Bayonet Point/Hudson Regional Medical Center. In 1983, she joined her then husband, John R. "Jack" Vasko as partner of JV Associates, Inc. and JV Systems Services, Inc. in the Tampa Bay area until her retirement due to a debilitating stroke in 1999. In 2000, she moved to Fairfield Glade, TN where she lived until 2008 when she moved back to her beloved Middle Tennessee (Lebanon) where she returned to single status and resumed the last name of her children. She attended Pine Eden Baptist Church in Crossville and Immanuel Baptist Church in Lebanon when her health allowed. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in her name to any no kill animal shelter or animal rescue facility. She was very supportive of tissue and organ donation.