June 20, 1939 – June 25, 2023
Donna Marie (Smith) Hett passed away peacefully on June 25, 2023, at the Vernon Advent Christian Homes where she had been receiving care as she faced the many challenges related to Alzheimer’s Disease. She is remembered as a woman of faith in Jesus and the power of prayer, generous and kind, with a wonderful smile and beautiful soprano voice.
Donna grew up attending the Advent Christian Church in Dover-Foxcroft, Maine where she made her initial commitment to Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior as a child. She enjoyed her life on the farm, milking the family cow, riding Dolly, the workhorse, and harvesting potatoes during school vacation in the fall. Frequently, she spoke of her many friends and the fun they had together in this close community.
Following her graduation from Foxcroft Academy, Donna courageously left her familiar rural surroundings to attend the New England School of Theology in the city of Brookline, Massachusetts, which became Berkshire Christian College. She graduated from Berkshire with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology in 1961, and that same month, married an underclassman, Robert Hett, who was in training for the ministry. Little did Donna know that the Lord would lead them to minister in ten states, serving in 14 churches, and packing to move more than 20 times. Through it all, she consistently loved and supported her husband and the churches where they served, often typing his weekly sermons and bulletins, singing special music, offering hospitality, and accompanying Bob on many of his visits to homes and hospitals. She especially enjoyed teaching children in Sunday School and Bible Club.
God granted Donna two precious and enduring spiritual gifts, which she utilized faithfully, even as she experienced progressively debilitating dementia over the last 12 years of her life. When she could no longer carry on a conversation or recognize her family members, she expressed her heart of praise and petition through prayer and singing until her final days of this life. Those who witnessed her faith in suffering were greatly encouraged to see the power of the Holy Spirit at work in her, bearing witness to the Scriptures: “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal (II Cor. 4:16-18 NIV).”
A Memorial Service for Donna will be held at the New Hope Baptist Church, 130 Spring St., Dexter, Maine on September 23, 2023, at 2:00 p.m, and recorded for later viewing on the following church website: SCCNH.com/services. (Donna’s husband, Pastor Bob Hett, fell asleep in Christ on May 5, 2023. His May 27 Memorial Service is still posted on the same website.)
We encourage family and friends to consider a memorial donation to Vernon Advent Christian Homes, 61 Greenway Dr., Vernon, VT 05354, where Donna and her husband received exceptional care these past four years.
