Donna F. (Edwards) Clark, 93 of Payette was born May 23, 1932.

 

Donna went home to be with the Lord Wednesday morning, January 21, 2026. Donna was born and raised in Payette.

 

Donna was a lifelong member of Payette Assembly of God now known as River of Life Christian Center. Donna graduated from Payette High School in 1950. She married Gary Erhardt and had 4 children, Vicki, Tammy, Kathy, and Glenn. Donna worked for Montgomery Ward, JCPenney’s and Opals Dress shop in Payette. She then stopped working and became a bookkeeper for Gary’s painting business. After Gary and Donna divorced,

 

Donna worked for Kmart until she retired and married Dennis Clark. Dennis and Donna lived in Pendleton, Oregon until they sold the house and moved back to Payette. After moving back to Payette, Donna became a volunteer at Payette Christian Academy/River of Life Christian School, where she helped teach children to read and was the secretary/receptionist for the school, and where she was a grandma to all the kids who attended there. She was known for her homemade cookies and chocolate cake. Family gatherings happened every Sunday after church where there were always fresh baked cookies and a fridge full of pop. Everyone who met her loved her.

 

Donna was preceded in death by her husband Dennis Clark, Daughter Vicki Swank, Grandson Nicholas Naillon, Granddaughter Donella Renae Erhardt, her parents Roy & Ethel Edwards, 4 brothers Edgar (Virginia) Fee of Payette, Leonard (Adella) Edwards of Boise, Norman (Darlene) Edwards of Boise and Cleo Edwards of Puerto Rico and 1 sister Ardus Smith of Boise.

 

She is survived by her daughters, Tammy Hirchert (Marvin Hirchert) and Kathy Kawakami (Joe Kawakami), both of Payette; and her sons, Glenn Erhardt and Rudy Villarreal, both of Weiser; 12 grandchildren; 27 great-grandchildren; one great-great-granddaughter, Olivia, with another expected in 2026; and numerous nieces and nephews.

 

A viewing will be held at Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel, located at 112 N. 9th Street, Payette, Idaho 83661, on Monday, January 26, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Graveside services will follow at 2:00 p.m. at Riverside Cemetery, under the direction of Shaffer-Jensen Memory Chapel.  Written with love by: Grandson Russell Naillon

The Vine and the Blossom

 

The table grew longer with every passing year,

As her quiet strength cast out every fear,

She was the trunk of a towering tree.

With roots reaching deeper than any could see,

The mother, the maker, the keeper of light,

Who guided three generations through the night,

But her crown was the children, the young and the small.

The twenty-seven "greats" who would run through the hall,

By the time the first blossoms of spring start to show,

Seven "Great-greats" will have started to grow-

A lineage blooming, a garden in flower.

Watered by grace and her soft, steady power.

On the day that she whispered her final goodbye,

As her soul took its flight to the wide, open sky.

A new life arrived - a fresh, morning breath.

A victory of birth in the shadow of death.

One went to be heaven, while one joined us here,

A circle completed, crystalline and clear.

She hasn't truly left us: she's just changed her form.

She's the sun on the garden, the hearth in the storm.

In the eyes of the infant, in the stories we tell.

The Matriarch's spirit continues to dwell.

She sowed all the seeds, and though she's at rest.

The spring will prove truly how much we were blessed.