Meet Donna Baumgartner

Aug 9, 2023 |

The story is often told at family gatherings that, when Donna was five-years-old, her mother asked her, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Donna quickly answered, “A Sunday School teacher!”

She and her sisters were the Deacon’s daughters, and their Amarillo church family was very important to them.
After graduation from the University of North Texas, Donna became an elementary school teacher. She taught at Harrison Lane Elementary in the HEB ISD for 20 years before transferring to Harwood Junior High where she taught 7th and 8th grade English. As a classroom teacher she taught junior high students and trained junior high teachers in reading and writing skills. In 2008 Donna was recognized as the HEB ISD District Secondary Teacher of the Year. She and her husband Cary are longtime residents of Bedford where their four children all graduated from Bell High School.

Retiring from public school in 2013, Donna did, in fact, become a Sunday School teacher here at FUMC Hurst for our Senior Adult classes. As a storyteller, she brings to life familiar Bible stories to create meaningful and spiritual connections to scripture. This fall Donna and Joe Motely will facilitate a weekday Bible Study here at FUMC Hurst.

When not speaking to groups, Donna can be found volunteering at The Coat (Mission Central Resale Shop), watering the Village Garden, or in her home “Stitching Studio” sewing charity blankets and pillowcases for families in shelters.