The world needs to know that I loved Donna Quebbeman.  She was always positive, always smiling, always cheerful, a person with whom you felt at ease, and who you liked to be around.

I first knew her as Donna Boman in the old church building here in Baker 50 years ago.  She was the stellar mother of five children.  Donna's children were the best thing that came of that marriage.  I have remembered Melodee and Rosalie all these years.  Later Duane became my special friend through our shared vocations of woodworking and cabinet making.  Before my wife and I left on our 2-year mission to the South Seas, I had a goal of redoing our kitchen.  I made the cabinets, drawers, and counter tops, tore out the old ones, and installed the new ones.  But I ran out of time to finish.  I asked Duane to make and install the doors.  When we returned from Vanuatu we came home to this gorgeous rustic hickory kitchen that we enjoy every day.

After that I knew her as Donna Donohue.  I was her bishop.  I interviewed her for temple recommends.  It was then that I realized her stellar qualities.  Others recognized her stellar qualities, too.  She was called to be the stake Relief Society president.  That gave her responsibility for all of the women and families of this 4-county area of Eastern Oregon.  It was a huge responsibility, but with her organizational skills and personality, she was up to the task.

My wife, Marjorie, had a first cousin named Elva Quebbeman.  For many years she was a paralyzed, bedridden invalid.  Her husband, Herschel, took exemplary care of her.  Herschel was a wonderful person, and like Donna, was always smiling.  Some time following Elva's death, Herschel walked into my wood shop in Haines one day.  He was there to ask me what I knew about Donna Donohue.  His daughter-in-law, who had originally come from Baker, had told him that he needed to ask Donna for a date.  Did I think that would be a good idea?

I was ecstatic.  I felt that those two wonderful, deserving people would be perfect for each other.  I gave Donna a strong recommendation.  I suspect that Herschel stopped at my shop on his way to see Donna, and to introduce himself.  I don't know how he went about things, but the next thing I knew, they were married.

As Donna Quebbeman, she and Herschel served a mission for the Church.  They were called to go to Russia.  Because of my training in the U.S. Navy, I knew Russian; but when my wife and I submitted our own missionary applications, Marjorie wouldn't let me put anything on the application indicating that I knew anything about Russia.  That would have been a difficult mission.  It was difficult for Donna and Herschel, too, so they were eventually transferred to California.

They're both gone now, but I can plainly see them still smiling.  They're both supremely happy.

What's happened to Donna?  Donna wasn't afraid of death,  For her, death was an experience she was looking forward to.

When I was a little boy I have a vivid memory of sitting on the floor between the kitchen cabinets and the chest freezer.  My back was against the wall.  I was listening to the adults visiting as they were seated around the dinner table.  I marveled as their voices turned into a drone, and the next thing I knew I woke up in my room in my own bed.

Death is like that.  We go to sleep, and wake up in the room where we're supposed to be.

I love the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 42:46-47.  “And it shall come to pass that those that die in me shall not taste of death, for it shall be sweet unto them:

“And they that die not in me, wo unto them, for their death is bitter.”

The neat thing about life is that we can choose whether death will be sweet or bitter.  Donna's death was sweet.  Herschel was waiting for her.

We can choose the room in which we awake.

We can choose the glory of the body with which we'll be resurrected.

We can choose with whom we spend eternity.

We can choose whether we receive a fulness of blessings or something less.

We can choose our degree of eternal happiness or misery.

The popular teachings of the world say that at death we either go to heaven or to hell.  That's a good example of what the prophet Nephi called a “false, and vain, and foolish doctrine.”

The Savior told His disciples that “in my Father's house are many mansions.”  (John 14:2).  Paul told about being caught up unto the third heaven.  In First Corinthians he said, “There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.  There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars:  for one star differeth from another star in glory.  So also is the resurrection of the dead.”  (1  Cor. 15:40-42).

The cool thing is that we get to choose in which kingdom we want to spend eternity.  President Dallin H. Oaks made a very significant statement in the talk that he gave in general conference just last month.

He said:  “The revealed doctrine of the restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches that all the children of God—with exceptions too limited to consider here—will ultimately inherit one of three kingdoms of glory, even the least of which 'surpasses all understanding.'  After a period in which the disobedient suffer for their sins, which suffering prepares them for what is to follow, all will be resurrected and proceed to the Final Judgment of the Lord Jesus Christ.  There, our loving Savior, who … saves all the works of his hands, will send all the children of God to one of these kingdoms of glory according to the desires manifested through their choices.”  (Liahona, November 2023, 26).

In his closing remarks in the same general conference, President Russell M. Nelson admonished us over and over and over to “Think Celestial.”  We want the highest blessings.  We're going to be profoundly disappointed if we live for and settle for less.  He says:  “Here is the great news of God's plan:  the very things that will make your mortal life the best it can be are exactly the same things that will make your life throughout all eternity the best it can be!”  (Liahona, November 2023, 117).

Earlier he said, “Mortal lifetime is barely a nanosecond compared with eternity.  But what a crucial nanosecond it is!  Consider carefully how it works:  During this mortal life you get to choose which laws you are willing to obey—those of the celestial kingdom, or the terrestrial, or the telestial—and therefore, in which kingdom of glory you will live forever.  What a plan!  It is a plan that completely honors your agency.”  (Liahona, November 2023, 28).

Donna made her choices.  I'm not her judge, but I can say with confidence that she has chosen the celestial.  Furthermore, I happen to know that her greatest desire and goal now is that she can be there with all of her children and grandchildren.  Hers is a legacy that I hope you all will cherish and follow.

Our lives are all better because of her influence.