Donna D. (Diehl) McGuire

Donna Dee McGuire was born on March 19, 1930 in Bassett, NE to Wilbur and Pearl (Cameron) Diehl and passed away December 7, 2025 at the Rock County Hospital Long Term Care in Bassett. She had two older sisters, Neva Belle and Twila Mae. Donna attended first grade in Long Pine, NE until March of 1936, when the family moved to Rock County where she finished her elementary education in rural schools. While attending Rock County High School, Donna lived in the dormitory during school week for a year and a half. Then the family moved to Bassett. During the freshman and sophomore years, she took basic classes. Since she wanted to be a teacher, she took normal training the junior and senior years which would prepare her for that occupation. During the senior year, she would go to the County Superintendent’s office where she took several required tests. These would be sent to the Nebraska Department of Education. She passed these tests so when she graduated she received a three-year teaching certificate. Also in May, she spent a week in a rural school observing the regular teacher and took over her duties gradually. By Friday, she taught all of the classes and duties of the regular teacher. Donna graduated from RCHS in 1948. Her first rural school was District #22, which was seven miles southeast of Bassett and it had six students. She received $125 a month for nine months. She needed a method of transportation, so she bought a Model A for $250 to drive from her parents’ home to school. After Donna taught two years, she started going to summer school at Chadron State College for nine or twelve weeks every year to keep her teaching certificate in force and to earn credit hours. She also took off-campus classes on Saturdays during the winter months. These classes were held in different towns – Ainsworth, Valentine and O’Neill. Each class was usually held six to eight weeks on Saturday.

From 1950-1952, she taught District #41, which was located eight miles south of Bassett and one and one-half miles west. In the first year of teaching, there were eleven students and seven grades. The second year she taught twelve students and all eight grades. During the second semester of that year, she gained a kindergarten student. Donna taught seven and one-half years in rural schools in Rock County. The summer of 1953 Donna did not attend summer school as she and Frank McGuire were married June 7, 1953 at her parents’ home in Bassett. In 1956, Donna joined the staff at the Bassett Grade School. Her smallest class at the grade school numbered 18 students in 1961-1962, and the largest class was 43 students in 1962-1963. Her yearly salary that year was $3,950. She never had an aide to help her with school work and she usually had only one-day weekends because she would spend one day at school making lesson plans, checking papers or making bulletin boards. During the week, many evenings would be spent checking papers. Donna received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Education on July 26, 1962 and her Life Teaching Certificate in 1963. Donna retired in 1987 after teaching sixth grade for 31 years. In 1989, she returned for one year to teach fifth grade and also taught enrichment classes in grades K-8. She taught a total of thirty-nine and one-half years. For over 50 years, Donna was a member of the Bassett Rebekah Lodge and Kappa Kappa Iota, which is a sorority for educators. She was also a member of the Sandhills Quilt Guild. She made several quilts and entered some of them in the Rock County Fair and also the Nebraska State Fair.

After Donna retired, she and her husband, Frank, began taking trips to various places. They travelled through the New England states, Southeastern states, Northeastern states, Alaska, Hawaii, Florida, Nova Scotia and Mexico. They took two cruises; one to the Caribbean Islands, and one around Mexico and through the Panama Canal. She and Frank spent ten winters in Arizona and ten in Texas. Through their travels with their camper and bus tours, they were in every state of the United States. They were also in Mexico and all of the Canadian provinces except Newfoundland. Donna and Frank liked to dance, so for many years they drove to Carlock, SD, almost every Saturday night to the dances. They celebrated their 40th, 50th and 60th anniversaries with a supper and dance at the Legion Club in Bassett. Another enjoyable past-time for them was playing cards with friends. Donna also always had a large garden with lots of vegetables and flowers. She had over 50 dahlias in her flower beds.

Donna was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Frank who passed away in 2019; and her two sisters, Neva Belle Buoy and Twila Mae Kepler. Donna is survived by three nieces, Jannett (Lucky) Schneberger of Pueblo, CO, Bonnie (Gwen) Frisk of Ft. Myers, FL and Juanita (Gordon) Luhr of Centralia, WA; nephew, Clifford (Shirley) Kepler of Bassett; along with other family members and a host of friends.

Funeral Service was held on Friday, December 12, 2025 at the Bassett Methodist Church with Pastor Jenice Epp officiating at the event. Music was provided by JoAnn Swanson with the CD Selections of “Amazing Grace” by The Statler Brothers, “How Great Thou Art” by Connie Smith and “Wings Of A Dove” by Ferlin Husky. A Poem and Obituary were read by Lucky Schneberger. Casketbearers were: Billy Kepler, Brad Arrowsmith, Kevin Krieger, Joe Leonard III, Les Hall and Shawn Heyden. Honorary Casketbearers were: Richard Kinney, Ed Hall, Dick McCall, Loren Lund and All of Donna’s Other Friends. In lieu of flowers, memorials were directed to the Frank and Donna McGuire RCHS Scholarship Fund or to the Bassett Methodist Church. Burial was in the Bassett Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of the Hoch Funeral Home of Bassett. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.hochfuneralhome.com.