LaDonna Hawes, 84

LaDonna Marie Hawes of Kalispell passed away peacefully at Kalispell Assisted Living Memory Care on Dec. 2, 2025, after a touching conversation with her son, Willie and with nursing assistant McKenzie by her side all night.

LaDonna was born Aug. 24, 1941, to Roy and Esther Johnson in Stanley, North Dakota. She grew up on the family farm near White Earth, North Dakota where she attended grade school in a one room schoolhouse. She told stories of walking across 2 miles of prairie with her brothers to get to school or being pulled by the tractor in a sleigh in the winter. She attended high school in White Earth where she stayed with a host family. After graduating she completed business school.

She married Gene Hawes on Sept. 5, 1965, living on several naval bases serving our country while Gene was serving on Navy ships as a diesel engine mechanic for months at a time. She gave birth to her first son Willie on March 13, 1969, in Stanley, North Dakota, right before Gene’s deployment to the Vietnam War. Her second son Todd was born in Kittery, Maine on July 10, 1971. Her military life ended in Great Lakes, Illinois in 1976 when Gene retired from the Navy. They settled down in Kalispell, Montana where she lived and raised her sons in the same house they bought in 1978.

She was a member of the Eagles Auxiliary drill team and a Cub Scout leader. She made sure her boys played baseball, taking them to all their games and practices. She was a longtime Atlanta Braves baseball fan and enjoyed watching games on TV and attending games at several MLB stadiums. Watching college basketball just won’t be the same; she had so much fun filling out a bracket and watching March Madness. Ladonna loved gardening, flowers, and decorating the yard and house for all the holidays. She was an amazing Grandma and spent a lot of quality time with her granddaughter, Katie. They had tea parties, did arts and crafts, gardened, baked, decorated, played games, got mani/pedis and loved their pink drinks.

Ladonna will truly be missed by family, friends, and neighbors. She was especially close to the Frost and Brester families who have been neighbors since 1978. We will miss sitting by the fire and drinking milkshakes on camping trips. We will miss her delicious spice bars with caramel frosting; the holidays won’t be the same without them. We will miss watching Grizzly Basketball and NFR Rodeo. Most of all, we will just miss you and all the kindness and love that you brought into our lives.

LaDonna was the last living member of Roy and Esther Johnson’s family. She was preceded in death by her parents, (Roy and Esther Johnson), her brothers, Darell, Myron, Keith and an infant. She is survived by her husband, Gene; son, Willie and wife, Kendra and granddaughter, Katie; and son, Todd and wife Allison.

LaDonna will be laid to rest in a small cemetery on the prairie in North Dakota next to her parents and three of her brothers.