Donna Hensel

Donna Hensel

September 20, 1927 - December 17, 2022

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Obituary

MILWAUKEE / WATERFORD - Donna Hensel passed away on Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022, surrounded by her daughters, Lynne and Sally, and their spouses, Larry Kameya and Jan Thornberg. Her granddaughter, Lauren and her husband Eric Conrath, also survive her.


Donna was born Sept. 20, 1927, in Menomonee Falls, Wis., daughter of Louise (Keip) Bleck and Albrecht Bleck. When Donna was three, an auto accident took her father’s life. Consequently, she lived with relatives for much of her early childhood while her mother worked as a beautician in Milwaukee. She attended a one-room school when young but joined her mother in Milwaukee for high school. She graduated from Washington High School and then went on to Marquette University, graduating in 1948 with a B.S. in chemistry.


Donna and Winfried “Win” married in 1950, a marriage that lasted 67 years, and raised two daughters. Donna returned to college, earning a teaching degree, and then taught eighth-grade science for 22 years.


In retirement, Donna took up tennis and tried out various volunteer organizations until landing at the Milwaukee Art Museum, a significant divergence from her background in science. At the art museum, she met friends who became cornerstone friendships, became Docent of the Year, and made an applique of Picasso’s Cock of the Liberation. She continued her role as an educator leading school groups.


Donna was outspoken in her beliefs. She joined the Unitarian Universalist Church, evolving from sorority girl and bridge player to feminist and advocate for zero-population growth. She loved to travel and saw much of the world, including a trip to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia at age 80 and to China when she was 85. In 1977 she went to England for a brief teaching stint, which included a class trip to see Queen Elizabeth in a Silver Jubilee pageant.


She will be greatly missed. We loved her for her humor, spunk, generosity, industry, stubbornness, resilience, creativity, curiosity, and much more. The angels had better be on their toes.


The family welcomes gifts to the Milwaukee Art Museum in her honor. Online condolences may be made at www.gundersonfh.com.


Gunderson East

Funeral & Cremation Care

5203 Monona Drive

(608) 221-5420

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Donna
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Jan Thornberg
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Tracy Campbell
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Tracy Campbell
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A trip downtown to see Shen Yun.
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Janice L Thornberg
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Nancy Drewa
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I have loved looking through the family photos! – What a life and so many memories to keep her alive in all our hearts. Auntie Donna was my Baptismal sponsor, so destined to be important in my life from the beginning, and that she was. She and Uncle Win were also Baptismal sponsors for Josh. They were very special to us. I have such fun memories – lots of wonderful meals, doing dishes in the kitchen, camping in Door County, Glacier, & Rocky Mountain National Park. And always lots of laughter. I plant snapdragons in my garden, largely because I remember them in the back garden on 100th St. – It’s the little things, isn’t it?! When we were little, I remember she was such a raving beauty! – Wonderful clothes, beautiful hair and make up, and oh, those high heels! I have a picture in my mind of all the sisters-in-law on the sofas at the house on 100th St. They were certainly the “Greatest Generation” in so many ways! I remember talking with her one day somewhere in my adulthood. -- She told me she loved all of us nieces and nephews, but she didn’t really like us the year we were each in 8th grade, which of course, was the grade she had taught science for so many years. – So funny! I learned a lot from her throughout my lifetime – she was truly a role model to us girls in the next generation as we watched her go through life and she reinvented herself time and again. So many of our moms and dads left us at relatively young ages. – Your mom and dad were a constant for us and truly interested in our lives. – Thank you, Sally & Lynne, for sharing them both with us! Your mom was special – I loved her and I know that she loved me too. – What a gift!
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Sally Hensel
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