Donna Lou Carroll

Donna (Goetz) Carroll, 75, peacefully passed away on February 26, 2023, after a five-year battle with Alzheimer’s. Donna was born on June 7, 1947, in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated from Mother Mercy High School in 1965. She met Pat in 1962 and married him, her best friend and one true love, on November 11, 1967. They were married for 55 years. In 1969, Donna and Pat began their Army adventure that would go for the next 20 years. They started in Oklahoma and moved to Washington State. While Pat served in Vietnam, Donna and Dionne, who was 3 weeks old, stayed in Cincinnati. Next, they moved back to Oklahoma where Shannon was born and then to California where Robynn was born. They lived in Germany for three years where Donna was the Religious Education Director at the small Catholic Parish in Wurzburg. In Bowling Green, Ohio, Donna was the Activities Director for a small Assisted Care Facility. Another move to the US Military Academy at West Point, NY, Donna worked as an Instructional Assistant at the elementary school. Their final move with the military was to Indianapolis in 1985. Donna worked in Lawrence Township Schools for 15 years as a Special Ed Instructional Assistant then a school secretary at Crestview Elementary. Her final position was a Religious Ed secretary at Holy Spirit at Geist where she spent 15 years. As a parishioner for 30 years at Holy Spirit, Donna was one of the Stephen Ministry founders, Christ Renews His Parish participant and involved in many other volunteer Church activities.

Upon retirement, Donna spent her time with the grandkids (Marlee, 25, Lindsey, 23, Kaitlin, 21, David, 21, Ty, 20, Reid,19, John,18, Maren,17, and Brant,15) helping them with schoolwork, volunteering in their classrooms, running around from sporting event to school event and giving them unconditional love. Watching her three daughters and their husbands (Dionne and Darren McCoy, Shannon and Dave DeSplinter and Robynn and Andy Selle) raise their families was the joy of Donna’s life. Donna enjoyed any and every type of family get together. She also enjoyed reading, spending time in the yard gardening, going to flea markets and antiquing. Humor was a big part of Donna’s life – she liked to laugh and make others laugh. As she said in her own words: “I’m grateful for laughter; sometimes you just have to laugh.”

A visitation for greeting and storytelling will be held at Holy Spirit at Geist at 10:00 on Friday March 3, 2023, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 11:30, a luncheon, and then a private family burial at Oaklawn Memorial Gardens. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to these charities which were special to Donna: Special Olympics of Indiana, Noble Cause (St Vincent DePaul, Noblesville), St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital or Alzheimer’s Association.