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LaDonna Janzen Hopkins departed this life April 8, 2022. LaDonna's life was a model of living by her two essential values: generosity and gratitude. Her natural kindness and love offered to all she met endeared her to many and fostered community wherever she went. She was diagnosed with esophageal cancer in January, but her cause of death was heart failure brought on by longstanding heart issues about which she had not been aware.
LaDonna was born December 28, 1943, in Enid, Oklahoma, to Abe and Lydia Janzen. She grew up within her Mennonite background on the family farm along with her brother, Gary, driving tractor and harvesting wheat, playing the marimba and basketball during her school years In Kremlin and Enid. It was from her parents she learned the precious art of hospitality, and she continued to practice that art throughout her life.
LaDonna graduated from Phillips University where she met a ministerial student named Paul Hopkins. They married in 1965 and had two children, Sean and Sarah. Following graduation she taught school in Enid for four years. Following Paul's graduation from Seminary they moved several times to live and work in Missouri, Indiana, North Carolina, and Texas, before finally settling in Albuquerque in 1992.
In her professional life, LaDonna's varied work displayed her wide interests and her commitment to improving people's lives. She served on the national staff of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), where she and Paul traveled the world working to strengthen marriages and families. She and Paul together worked for three years as co-executive directors of the Association of Couples for Marriage Enrichment, during which time she met with President Jimmy Carter at the White House and was interviewed by Jane Pauley of the "Today Show" to foster better marriages. LaDonna was Director of Children's Ministries at First Christian Church in Amarillo and later was executive director of the Christian Church's Rickman Center in Jefferson City, MO. She was the first, full-time executive of Habitat for Humanity in Albuquerque. Finally, she encouraged philanthropy through the United Way of Central New Mexico, retiring as Vice-President in 2010.
At the heart of LaDonna's life were family, friends, and community. She loved her son and daughter deeply, and for the past 10 years delighted especially in her cherished granddaughter Amelia.
LaDonna is survived by her husband of 56 years, Paul; her daughter, Sarah Tolch, son-in-law, Andy Tolch, and granddaughter, Amelia Tolch, of St. Louis; her daughter-in-law, Naomi Elizabeth Montoya, of Albuquerque; and brother, Gary Janzen, of Enid, Oklahoma. She mourned until the end of her life the death of her son, Sean, in 2013.
A celebration of LaDonna's life was held on May 3 at 1 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque. In lieu of flowers the family encourages contributions in LaDonna's honor be made to the Sean Hopkins Fund at the Albuquerque Community Foundation, 624 Tijeras Ave. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102.
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