Donna Marlene Henn

Donna Marlene Liles Henn, 92, of Berne, Indiana was called peacefully to her heavenly home on Sunday evening, December 22, 2024, at Swiss Village in Berne.

Donna was born on March 21, 1932, in Greenville, Ohio, to Charles Phister Liles and Sally Ann Young Liles. She grew up in Kentucky; Cherryvale, Kansas; Chillicothe, Ohio; and Dayton, Ohio. She graduated from Jefferson Township High School in Liberty, Ohio, in 1950. That same year she married Cecil Bennett Henn on June 14th in Liberty, Ohio, near Dayton.

Donna was an artist, a published poet, a seamstress, a Cub Scout Den Mother, a Girl Scout Leader, Sunday School teacher, a Bible Study Fellowship Group Leader, a Stonecroft Bible Study Leader, and a Gideon Auxiliary Member. She worked as a seamstress making custom clothes for others, including wedding dresses, bridesmaids dresses, and costumes for a local dance, gymnastics, and baton twirling studio. Once her children were all in school, she enrolled at Wright State University in Dayton, OH, the first year the school opened, studying Art Education. She loved it, but ended up earning a degree in Elementary Education from Indiana Purdue University Fort Wayne after moving to Berne, Indiana, then got a Masters in art from Saint Francis University in Fort Wayne, IN. Later she conducted private art classes in her home in Fort Wayne, IN, teaching children to draw and paint, how to use a potters wheel, and create sculptures. She had her own darkroom to develop photographs. Donna worked at the school in Berne as an aide and a substitute teacher. She worked at the Dunbar outlet store in Berne and helped at Et Cetera Ecke.

When the First Mennonite Church sponsored refugees from Cambodia, Donna taught English to them, an activity she would be asked to do years later when she traveled with her husband to other countries requesting his help with their manufacturing businesses. He would help the manufacturing business while she taught them how to speak American English. The two of them traveled to 50 countries all 50 states in the US.

Donna sang alto in the Messiah at The Mennonite Church for many years and in the Spring Oratorios as well.

She is survived by one brother, Robert Liles of Dayton, OH, and two sisters - June Welch of Lafayette, LA, and LulaBelle Geer of Springfield, OH, three children - David Cecil Henn of Santa Rosa, CA; Rhonda Faye Henn Lehman (Steve) of Fort Wayne, IN; Conna Jane Ann Henn Leitz (Luke) of Weston, FL; 8 grandchildren - Jesse Michael Henn, Jamey Lazarus Henn, Robert Bennett Lehman (Christina Rodifer), Erica Nicole Downey (Clark), Brittany Paige Lehman Bennett, Alexander Grant Lehman (Emily Goodwin), Mark Francis Leitz (Dalia Mahmoud Hassan Elamin), Gabriel Joseph Leitz (Alexa Afton); 19 great-grandchildren - Alex Lattimore, Lauren Kate Lehman, Henry Steven Lehman, Miranda Bennett Lehman, Andrew Isaiah Downey, Olivia Nicole Downey, Michael Steven Downey, Elijah James Downey, Luke Hudson Downey, Jackson Clark Downey, Milo Wayne Flueckiger, Elliana Claire Lehman, Julia Faye Lehman, William David Lehman and Theodore Charles Lehman, Victoria Frances Leitz, Brodie Elamin Leitz, Noah James Leitz and Jonah Joseph Leitz; and three great-great-grandchildren.

Donna was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Cecil, on March 4, 2022, brothers: Marion Lee Liles (in infancy), Charles Liles (when 2 kamikaze pilots attacked the USS Bismark Sea during WWII), Dorman Phister (Bud) Liles, Granville Talmadge Liles, Gayle Dean Liles and Daniel E Liles. 

A funeral service will be held at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 11, 2025, at the First Mennonite Church in Berne, Indiana, with Pastor Jeff Linthicum officiating. Burial will follow at M.R.E. Cemetery in Berne, Indiana. 

The family will receive friends from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Saturday, January 11, 2025, at the First Mennonite Church in Berne, Indiana.

Preferred memorials can be made to The Gideons International or First Mennonite Choral Society.

Arrangements by Zwick & Jahn Funeral Homes, Yager-Kirchhofer Chapel in Berne, Indiana