Obituary

Donovan R. Walling, born January 9, 1948, in Kansas City, Missouri, died May 5, 2017. He was the son of Donovan Ernest and Dorothy (nee Goyette) Walling. A lifelong educator, Walling taught school in Wisconsin and Germany, was a curriculum administrator in Wisconsin and Indiana, and served as director of publications for the education association Phi Delta Kappa, retiring in 2006. He continued to work as a writer and editorial consultant in retirement, and was a senior consultant for the Center for Civic Education. Walling was the author or editor of numerous books in education and also wrote fiction and poetry. He was preceded in death by his wife Diana (nee Eveland) in 1991. He is survived by his husband Sam Troxal; his children, Katherine, Donovan David, and Alexander; and several grandchildren.

In light of Donovan’s lifelong commitment to education, his family requests memorial contributions be made to the Walling-Troxal Endowed Scholarship Fund at First United Church. A celebration of his life will be held Saturday, June 16 at 7pm at First United Church, 2420 E Third Street in Bloomington, Indiana.

Final Post

With advanced kidney cancer, the best hope is to delay the inevitable. With two forms of targeted therapy, immunotherapy, and an infusion called Avastin, we were able to stretch survival from the usual projection of three to six months to something closer to a couple of years. 

The spinal operation was superficially successful but still left me bedridden as a paraplegic. Given that outcome, I decided to suspend active cancer treatment and to enter hospice care. To date, such care has been provided at home. Various medical technicians and nurses have provided periodic at-home care, and my husband Sam has supplied routine home care. Without his loving care, supplemented by legions of friends and relatives, none of this extensive care would have been possible. A lifetime of friendships now surrounds me with an unending rainbow of love and devotion, for which I am daily grateful.

Whenever I'm not over-scheduled with medical appointments, I'm often engaged in conversations with longtime colleagues. My professional writing has unfortunately slowed to a trickle, as other matters have overtaken those thoughts. Perhaps I can pick up some more later. Still, I have a few pieces in the publication pipeline. An article appeared in last month's issue of a journal, and another just appeared in this month's issue. 

I'm happy to have six grown children who live nearby, and grandchildren are an endless delight. Visits with wee ones need to be fairly short; otherwise they're simply exhausting 

This month's-long journey has been a marathon, but it's had many rewards particularly in that extra time I've been able to spend with my husband. We even got married! Remember? And we traveled hither and yon, including that great transatlantic cruise and sojourns to London, Paris, and Puerto Rico. Wow!

Sixty-nine doesn't sound like a lot of lifetime, but in reality it is. I've been hugely blessed. Those folks with an overabundance of curiosity can find my autobiography and see what I mean. 

I have no grand plans for my remaining weeks. Sam got us Apple TV, which is making for some fun TV discoveries. I've publisher 17 books and an array of poems, stories, and "stuff " that seems like enough. I have a great family and more friends than I can count. What more could anyone want?

Thanks for reading.