Together Again

Donna Jean (Edna) Tipton passed away on May 17, 2020, from complications of coronavirus, at Pebble Creek Healthcare Center in Akron.

A resident of Barberton for most of her life, she was born to Clifford and Edna (Tilley) Romig, on March 28, 1938. The Romig family was a founding family of New Portage, which later became north Barberton.

Donna has at last been reunited with her late husband Theodore I. Tipton, whom she mourned deeply when he died Jan. 2, 2014 from cancer, after almost 52 years of marriage.

Donna has been called a sweetheart by many, but those who knew her also witnessed her fiesty moments.

As a child, she survived polio, rheumatic fever and scarlett fever. In the last year of her life, post polio syndrome stole her ability to walk, and rheumatic fever, which had affected her heart, contributed to the underlying conditions, which also included diabetes, making her vulnerable to Covid-19.

In 1956, she graduated from Barberton High School, as did her father before her, and her daughters after her. She spent several years after her marriage in the Goodyear Heights community of Akron, and returned to Barberton in 1972 with her husband and family.

Donna had a good life and marriage. With her family, she took many road trips to see autumn leaves and local natural and scenic parks, and historic sites. With Ted, she made two cross country trips to California to visit her daughter. She enjoyed hiking the Summit County Metro Parks with her family, and participated in the fall hiking spree for 30 years. In her youth, she was an avid seamstress, a cook who experimented with recipes, and took up hobbies of crocheting and cake decorating while raising her children. She enjoyed eating out at Barberton chicken restaurants, going to family cookouts on holidays and birthdays, birdwatching, gardening, and watching soap operas and sports, especially the Cleveland Indians.

In the last few years of her life, she rescued a dog Chloe, later followed by a cat Tagger, who became part of the family. The dedicated staff at Pebble Creek remarked on how she always spoke of Tagger, and always wore cute cat-themed shirts.

Preceding Donna in death were her parents, and brothers and sisters-in-law, Carl (Dorothy) Romig Jr., Paul (Phyllis) Taylor and Kenneth (Gwen) Romig and their son Jeff, and brother-in-law Marvin Tipton, as well as her close-as-a-sister cousin, Marilyn Borland Williams.

She is survived by daughters Karla Tipton of Barberton, and Darla (Tim) Williams of Akron, as well as sister-in-law Bonnie Tipton, and nephews Brett and Lance Tipton. She also leaves nephew Randy (Brenda) Romig, and their extended family, as well as nieces and nephews of the Taylor family: Betty Lee, Paula, Paul Jr., Charles and Tom; and many Romig family members in Texas, as well as cousin Ron (Anne) Romig and family, cousin Marlene Romig, and uncle Wayne Kearns, of Independence, Missouri, and cousin Louann (Bill) Deitsch.

Because of the current pandemic, Cox-McNulty Funeral Home in Barberton will be unable to provide a showing, but remembrances of Donna can be posted to the tribute wall on the Cox-McNulty website. A memorial service will be planned by the family in 2021.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Akron Summit County COVID-19 Emergency Support Fund (United Way of Summit Co. COVID 19 Fund, P.O. Box 639930, Cincinnati, OH 45263-9930); or the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation (200 S Park Rd., Ste. 100, Hollywood, FL  33021). These can also be made online.

Internment will be at Greenlawn Cemetery, which occupies land that used to be the Romig family farm. Donna will lie beside Ted, and near her parents.

Covid-19 took our mother, but will never steal her precious memory from our hearts and minds.
 

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