Donna Durrant Sorensen died Monday, June 4, 1990. She was a former second counselor in the General Relief Society Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She was born to Lorenzo James and Agnes Priscilla Lewis Durrant in Spanish Fork on Dec. 24, 1904, and was the oldest of six children.Her parents moved to Thatcher, Idaho when she was 3, then subsequently returned to Provo where she attended the Brigham Young University Training School from the 6th grade, and continued at the school until she received her bachelor of science degree in 1927.
Sorensen served a mission for the LDS Church to the Central States Mission from June 1924 to 1926.
She taught at American Fork High School from 1927 until 1929, where she taught English, speech and drama, and directed the school plays.
She married Wesley A. "Brick" Sorensen of Logan on Oct. 10, 1929, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. They lived in Salt Lake City where she assisted her husband in management of the Doll House Restaurant, which they owned for 42 years.
Sorensen gave lifelong service to the LDS Church, holding administrative and teaching assignments in all the auxiliaries. For nine years, she taught the gospel doctrine class in the Capitol Hill Ward. In 1936, Relief Society President Louise Y. Robison called her to serve on the General Board of that organization.
Then, at a reorganization of the board, she was called to serve as second counselor to President Amy Brown Lyman for three years. She served 10 years on the board.
She was a member of the Deseret Sunday School Union Board for 11 years, serving under the superintendencies of of George R. Hill and David Lawrence McKay. She wrote a teacher's manual for the Sunday School genealogical course, served on the Gospel Doctrine committee and on the editorial staff of the Juvenile Instructor. She authored a number of special programs that were used on Mother's Day, Easter and Christmas.
She was active in community service as president of the Lafayette School PTA and vice president of the PTA at Horace Mann Junior High School. As a member of the board of Children's Service Society for 13 years, she served for three years as second vice president.
She was a charter member of the Salt Lake Reynold's Club and a member of the Cleofan Literary Club.
She served as president of the Sigma Chi Mother's Club in Salt Lake in 1966. She was elected for the three-year term on the BYU Alumni Executive Committee in 1960, and was elected to the BYU Emeritus Club Board of Directors in 1977. She served as vice president for two years and received the Special Recognition Award from the BYU Emeritus Club in April 1983.
One of the activities she was particularly devoted to was genealogical work. She found great joy and spent many hours in gathering her ancestral names. She worked as an ordinance worker in the Salt Lake Temple from October 1977 until October 1985.
She is survived by her husband, two daughters; Shauna Lee, Monterey, Calif., and Sheila, Sarasota, Fla.; and one son, Steven James, Vancouver, Wash.; two brothers, one sister and 17 grandchildren.
Funeral services will be Friday at noon at the Ensign Peak Ward Chapel, 125 E. North Sandrun Road. Friends may call at the Larkin Mortuary, 260 E. South Temple, Thursday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. and one hour before the service at the chapel.