Rebecca "Becky" Donovan

August 16, 1929 - January 7, 2021

Rebecca “Becky” Donovan, 91, of Grand Island passed away peacefully of natural causes on Thursday, January 7, 2021. To honor Becky’s wishes, cremation was chosen and Colorado will be her final resting place. All Faiths Funeral Home is entrusted with arrangements. A very special thank you is extended to the staff of both Riverside Lodge of Grand Island and Brookfield Park of St. Paul. In memory of Becky, please reach out to someone with a gesture of kindness. Memorials are suggested to the Becky Donovan Scholarship with Grand Island Public Schools Foundation. Becky was born August 16, 1929 at Pueblo, Colorado, the daughter of William and Florence (Barnes) Whittemore. She spent many summers weeding the onion fields on her father’s farm. She said she would never marry a farmer and she never did. She was a graduate of Cambion Academy in Loveland, CO before attending Union College. She then graduated from the University of Nebraska Lincoln where she majored in Elementary Education. Becky loved her teaching career. She taught in Florida and then in Lincoln while she finished her last two years at UNL. Upon her relocation to Grand Island, Becky taught at Starr Elementary from 1969 to 1996. Following her retirement, she worked as a Medication Aide at the Grand Island Veterans Home for nine years. Her friends and colleagues knew her as a champion for children and the elderly. Becky’s life philosophy can be summed up by two quotes…by Beatrix Potter (one of her favorite authors), “If I have done anything, even a little, to help small children enjoy honest, simple pleasures, I have done a bit of good.” The other quote, “…respect, care and dignity above all else. Becky rallied through many hardships and heartaches, inspiring one of her care givers to say she was “a tough old bird!” She was a member of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, the Starr Elementary PTA and the Grand Island Retired School Personnel. She is survived by a sister, Edith Bowman of Tampa, FL; three nieces and a nephew; her very dear friend, Carol George of Grand Island and her family; and many other friends and colleagues. She was preceded in death by a son, Michael Bowman; her parents; and brother and sister-in-law, Sidney and Carol Whittemore.