Biography of La Donna Stockstill

La Donna Stockstill’s roots run deep in Texas and Parker County. Her great-great grandfather, Issac Sella, signed the petition in 1855 requesting the county be formed. Her grandfather and father, J.K. Johnson Sr and Jr, were pioneers in the fruit and nut industry of Texas.

Government and history were her majors in college when the attended Weatherford College and Tarleton State University.

La Donna has worked for three radio stations hosting travel shows, local interest programs, cooking shows, political forums, educational round tables, gardening and landscaping segments. She has produced and voiced commercials on radio, appeared in a television commercial and taught private and public classes in cooking, decorating and landscaping.

Education has always been important to her and she was named to the Texas Association of School Boards Media Honor Roll in 1998. La Donna and Arthur were founders of PENCILS FOR PEACE, an organization that collected and distributed school supplies to children throughout the world. An example of the success of this organization was the distribution of 6,600 pounds of school supplies to the children of Bosnia-Herzegovina. PENCILS FOR PEACE also distributed supplies to refugee children in the Metroplex area of north central Texas. This organization was founded after her son, A.G., who was serving in the Army at the time, told how desperate the children were for school supplies. They did not ask the soldiers for candy or treats but for pencils. He asked for a box or two of pencils and from this grew an effort that included all types of school supplies for these children. In recognition of this, PENCILS FOR PEACE, Arthur and La Donna received the 1998 Community Service Award from the Knights of Columbus, Fourth Degree General Worth Assembly.

La Donna started the food section of the local newspaper and has written a food column and feature stories relating to foods. She has authored two cookbooks; the last one is titled FAST LANES TO PAST LANES (A Culinary Tour) that is sold through gift shops.

She is a former member of the Tarrant County Master Gardener Association and is a charter member of the Parker County Master Gardener Association, having served as president in 2004. She is the liaison between the City of Weatherford and the Parker County Master Gardener Association for the historic Chandor Gardens, where she works as a docent and volunteer. With other Master Gardeners, she volunteers at Clark Gardens in the western part of Parker County and many other projects within the county. She has designed and executed landscapes for private homeowners and for a historic church in Weatherford. She has traveled extensively throughout Texas, the United States, the Caribbean and Europe always stopping to view the beautiful gardens.

She is a regular contributor to the web sites for Waldenstrom’s Macroglobinemia (a rare form of cancer) and Amyloidosis (another rare disease) both are incurable. La Donna was diagnosed with WM in June of 2000 and with Amyloidosis in October of 2001. She is a charter member of both the North Texas Waldenstrom and Amyloidosis Support Group Texas Area.

La Donna is married to Arthur G. Stockstill, Registrar at Weatherford College. They have two sons, A.G. and Mark, a daughter-in-law, Susan and two grandsons Alan and Robert.