STEELEVILLE - Donna Marie (Johnson) Eggemeyer, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother passed away peacefully on December 11, 2025, at the age of 80.  She may have lost her battle to cancer but she won her eternal reward in Heaven.

Donna was born on May 23, 1945, at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Belleville to Herman C. and Verna E. (Tucker) Johnson. She started her education in a one room schoolhouse in Fults, continued her elementary education in Prairie du Rocher, and graduated from Sparta High School in 1963.  Post-graduation she lived with her sister in Chicago for a year before returning to Sparta where she began working at Spartan Printing Press when she met and married Merle Lee Eggemeyer on October 17, 1964.  She spent most of her married life on a farm in rural Chester. Raised four daughters, assisted with farm duties, maintained a large garden, and cooked a homemade meal every night – including homemade desserts all served with either sweet tea or Pepsi. She was a devoted Christian with unwavering faith who found joy in the simpler blessings of life.   She lived her life with grace, kindness, and a deep devotion to both her family and the Lord.  As a homemaker, she created not just a house, but a home filled with warmth, laughter, and unconditional love.

Donna never sat idle, during her free time she enjoyed a variety of activities: creating beautiful quilts, needleworking, crocheting, collecting stamps and postcards, watching her birds, hunting arrowheads and mushrooms, fishing, playing card games, spending time with her family, and watching an occasional "good scary movie".

Her husband preceded her in death on April 28, 2020. She was also preceded by her parents, one sister (Gladys Asher); three brothers (Virgil Johnson, Levon Johnson, and Paul Johnson); one son-in-law (James C. Buck III); and one grandson (Fredric G. "Eric" Hutchinson, Jr.).

Surviving family left to cherish her memory include four daughters: Betty (Fred) Hutchinson of Perryville, Missouri; Carol (Lee) Jirel of Chapin, South Carolina; Annette (Rodney) Morwick of Fults, Illinois; and Doris (Allen) Mehrer of Monroe City, Missouri; four grandsons: Joey Hutchinson, Bobby Jirel, Nathan Mehrer, and Evan Jirel; three granddaughters: Adrian Mehrer, Megan Morwick, and Katie Morwick; one great-grandson Damon Hutchinson; one sister (Virgie Byrd of Bunker Hill, Illinois), two sisters-in-laws (Jeanne Johnson of Red Bud, Illinois and Wanda Davis Cook of Kansas City, Kansas); and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, neighbors, and special card playing friends.

Though our hearts are broken, we rejoice in knowing she is now reunited with her loved ones and is in the presence of her loving Savior.  Her love was boundless, her faith unshakable, and everyone who knew her loved her. She would always say "love you more."

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 pm on Saturday, December 13, 2025. at Wilson Funeral Home in Steeleville, Illinois with Rev. Tim Heinecke officiating. Burial will follow at Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Walsh, Illinois. Visitation will be on Saturday at Wilson's Funeral Home, Steeleville, where friends may call from Noon until 2pm.

In leiu of flowers and to honor her memory donations may be made to the Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery Fund or Shriners Children's Hospital of St. Louis.