Donny Gene Yandell of Heavener, Oklahoma interrupted Thanksgiving dinner to enter this world on November 24, 1955 to Bob Yandell and Lillie (McCammish) Tolbert. He left it on the morning of June 23, 2023 in the company of the two he loved the most, his beloved son and daughter. Those on the outside might have thought Donny, a contrary codger, but those who knew him recognized a loving and intelligent family man, a loyal friend, and a sensitive soul with multiple talents.
Donny was a US Navy veteran, a champion archer and marksman, a typist, a barber, a prison guard, a heat and air technician, a sawyer, a park custodian, a gamecock expert, dog trainer, hunter, and fisherman. He always had a love for dogs and perfected a skill for training them.
But he was also a skilled debater and conversationalist, an avid reader, a poet, a song writer, and a musician – a man who knew something about many things and liked to say so!
Donny enjoyed an adventurous, courageous, and colorful life. His mother often said, “It took the whole family to raise him”. As he was learning to crawl, he stuck his arm into a pan of hot starch burning it badly. As he was learning to walk, he yanked an iron off a chest of drawers. The blow to his head resulted in blackening both eyes and giving him a concussion. As a toddler, he drank a few drops of kerosene which had been stored in a bottle and was rushed to the doctor, nearly strangling. Before he was four, running from his sister, he took a fall through Long Bell Lumber Company’s glass door. Multiple stitches in his chin were required. Shortly afterward, he fell out of a shopping cart in Henry Moore’s Grocery, forcing his mother to run two blocks to Dr. Hogaboom’s office, carrying her unconscious boy. With several incidents between, at age 14, he had broken an arm, both legs, gotten himself and his sister kicked off the bus. The real stories behind those events were not the ones told to his mother. There was no quit in him, and he took no flack, but above everything he prized family.
Having started school early, when Donny graduated Heavener High School at 17, he had already enlisted in the United States Navy, serving from 1973 until 1978. Stationed on the USS Midway, he saw Japan and the Philippines and was stationed off the Gulf of Tonkin as the Vietnam War neared an end. He completed his service at the Naval Base Correctional Facility in Corpus Christi, Texas. Following that, he worked in the heat and air business in Muskogee before he moved to Round Rock, Texas. There he married Andrea Steinmann. From their marriage, he gained his cherished children Aubrey Renee and Jared Daniel. During these years, he took college classes, became a champion archer, played music with the likes of Willie Nelson and ZZ Topp, took up hog hunting, and raised gamecocks.
After the marriage dissolved, in 1997, he returned with Jared to Heavener, where he worked as a sawyer until a fallen log nearly cost him his leg. Later, he worked maintenance at Wister State Park. Until her death in 2022, Donny was the caregiver of his mother, Lillie Tolbert, to whom he was devoted. A staunch family man, he repeatedly said, “I love my family”. Diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016, he endured several rounds of chemo and radiation. Through these times, he often engaged in discussions of the Bible and what is to come. He was saved at and attended Lovings Baptist Church as a youth, up in later years he found his “church” in the solitude of the front porch or woods.
Donny was a man of conviction, who owned up to the choices he made. He made an impression of many before he embarked on this new adventure. He was deeply loved and will be missed until we are reunited.
Donny is survived by:
One daughter:
Aubrey Renee
One son:
Jared Daniel
Two sisters:
Linda Rainbolt
Patsy Lyons
Two brothers:
Paul Yandell
Ronnie Yandell
Five grandchildren:
Bailey, Kameron, Wyatt, Lilly, and Kayla
His uncle:
Charles Yandell
His close friend:
Darrell Shipman
Numerous maternal and paternal relatives and host of friends
He was preceded in death by his mama, Lillie (McCammish) Tolbert; his daddy, Bob Yandell; his step-dad, Kenneth Tolbert; his special uncle, Jack McCammish; and his much-loved aunt, Elizabeth Goodier..
Funeral services will be 2 p.m., Monday, June 26, 2023 at the Lovings Baptist Church with Brother Sam Dyer and Brother David Hardin officiating. Burial will follow in the Hontubby Cemetery in the Hontubby Community arrangements are under the direction of Dowden-Roberts Funeral Home of Heavener, Oklahoma.
Pallbearers will be: Jared Yandell, Kevin Yandell, Michael Yandell, Carmen Rainbolt, Cole Yandell, and Jamie Terry.
Viewing will begin at 2:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m., Sunday and 9:00 a.m. until Noon, Monday. The family will visit with friends on Sunday from 2:00 p.m. until 4:00 p.m. at the funeral home.
To sign Donny’s online guestbook please visit www.dowdenrobertsfuneralhome.com.