Donald Douglas Jeffers

Don was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia, on June 15, 1936. After his father died when Don was seven and his older sister twelve, his mother struggled unsuccessfully to keep the family together. Ultimately, Don and Mary Lou were placed in a Catholic orphanage. Don was a junior in high school and working part-time in an ice cream store, when the older boys in the orphanage learned they would be moved to a different location to work in the fields. Don feared he wouldn’t be able to finish school. When the store owner heard the news, he told the nuns he wanted Don to live with him, his wife, and their ten-year-old daughter. Soon, Don arrived at the home of his new family. He carried everything he owned in a paper bag. This compassion from the Burk family allowed Don to graduate from high school and enlist in the Navy. On July 17, 1965, Don married Martha Cross from Marietta, Ohio. Four years later they moved to Florida, where Martha began attending church. Don continued to play golf on Sundays, show-ing no interest in things of the Lord. But on the evening of May 17, 1973, a Baptist preacher stopped to visit, eventually asking Don if he knew he would go to heaven when he died. Don said if given an even chance, he thought he could make it. Pastor Anderson responded, “What if I told you how you could know for sure?” Don shared later that the second he heard those words, he knew he was a lost sinner in need of a Savior. That was 50 years ago, and Don never looked back. He went on to graduate from Ft. Myers Bible Institute, teach, preach, lead Bible studies, distribute tracts, even sing in the choir. He served as an elder at Fellowship Bible Chapel for over twenty-five years. He developed a heart for the prison ministry, soon volunteering through the chaplain’s office in a state prison. He regularly corresponded with and visited inmates, and when Don’s health pre-vented his driving, those same men encouraged him through calls and letters. On November 2, 2023, after months of failing health, God called Don home to spend eternity with the Savior he loved and served. He is now free from suffering. He was preceded in death by his birth parents, his foster family, his sister Mary Lou, and his sis-ter-in-law Carolyn Cross Westberry. Those left to cherish his memory are Martha, his loving wife of 58 years; son Doug Jeffers; daughter Debbie Puckett; and twenty grands and great-grands. Survivors also include his favor-ite cousin, Charlotte Hamrick, in West Virginia; John Westberry, a special brother-in-law in Georgia; and countless friends who loved him. Don has donated his body to the Anatomical Board of the State of Florida for use in medical re-search and education. It was his hope that this decision will contribute to the advancement of medical knowledge and thereby improve the quality of life for others. "Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." John 11:25-26

Donald Douglas Jeffers

June 15, 1936 - November 2, 2023