Dona Mae (Morrison) Skinner December 1, 1956 ~ August 24, 2026 (age 69)

A celebration of life for Dona Mae Skinner will be held Friday August 28th at 2:00 pm. With Peter Thompson officiating. Burial will follow in the Portales Cemetery. Pallbearers are Credence Dean, Sayler Dean, Keagan Chambers, Zach Turner, Eric Coats and Jason Coats. Honorary Pallbearers are Dustin Evaro, Troy McCollum, and Shon Knox.

Dona Mae Skinner, 69, was born on December 1st 1956 to Vernon James and Edna Lois Morrison.  She passed from this life on August 24 2026 after a long battle with MS, she passed at home with her family by her side.  Dona graduated from Portales High School in 1974. Dona started her working career on the family farm doing chores hoeing, harvesting and being the eyes for her blind father. Dona was a life time member of University Drive Church of Christ and later Portales Valley Church of Christ. Dona accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior at age 12.

She met Jon Skinner on an outing with friends at Ute lake the summer of 1974. Dona and Jon hit it off immediately and started a life together later that summer and were married September 17, 1976. They have been together 52 years. Jon and Dona raised four children together, Hattie, Newt, Erin and Zoe. In 1980, Jon was hurt in a construction accident. The day Jon got released from the hospital Dona got a call from a warm-hearted lady, Pete Brown who offered her a job with Bishop Printing, thus began Dona’s career in printing. Dona later accepted a job at ENMU University Printing Services. She worked there for 33 years before retiring.

Jon and Dona had plenty to do with four kids, a farm, 3 storage facilities, and separate jobs, however, they would spend their free time hunting and fishing with the kids.  Dona loved the outdoors and staying in a tent in the mountains or at one of the lakes was fine with her. Cooking on a camp stove was not a problem. Dona and Jon started a rock garden at their farm. They would take a day off, pack a lunch, and just go rock hunting to explore new places, bringing home different rocks from the area they had been. Later, they acquired a cabin at Fort Sumner Lake, NM where they enjoyed the quietness, scenery, and wildlife with a few walleye, bass, or catfish for supper.

Dona’s favorite numbers were 29,391 that’s the number she picked on how many beans were in a container at Furr’s Grocery Store.  She won the top prize, a trip to Hawaii in 1995. Dona would help Jon with the storage business whenever she was needed cleaning out units or collecting rent.

 Dona was preceded in death by her parents, Vernon and Edna Morrison, a brother Kenneth Morrison, and a sister Alta Rendon. Dona is survived by her husband Jon Skinner, their children Hattie Skinner of Portales, Newt and Melanie Skinner of Portale, Erin Skinner and her life companion, Patrick Dean of Aztec, NM, and Zoe and Zachary Turner of Suffolk, England; a sister, Letha Fink, seven grandchildren Dustin Evaro, Zoe Turner, Taylor Skinner, Keagan Chambers, Mattie Skinner, Credence Dean, and Sayler Dean. Three great-grandchildren Coleson, and twins Archer and Adalynn Turner. Dona also leaves behind a special lifetime friend Troy McCollum and the McCollum family.

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