Donita Lowene Priefert Payne

Donita Lowene Priefert Payne was born in Liberal, Kansas to Lowene and Don Priefert. She passed away very peacefully in Seattle, Washington with all of her children and many of her grandchildren by her side, holding her gently and prayerfully - just shy of her 89th birthday. Her body and spirit were weary, and she was ready to let go of this life.

She grew up on her family farm in the house built by her paternal grandparents and gifted to her parents Don and Lowene as a young married couple. She attended a one-room country school as a child, and graduated from Liberal High School in 1954, then graduating from Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois in 1958 with a degree in sociology. She did graduate work in education in Chicago and then moved to the Los Angeles area with her new husband Stuart Payne.

Donita raised her 3 children in Glendale, California until 1976 when, as a newly single parent, she and the children moved to Kansas City to start their new chapter and be closer to family - her brother Paul and his family in Kansas City, and her parents and grandfather Ross Fraim still on the farm in Liberal. Donita had returned to college in the previous years and obtained a degree in accounting. After settling in Kansas City, she eventually became a corporate auditor with the IRS, from which she retired after many years. In Kansas City, Donita was married a second time to Dean Baboo. He preceded her in death in 1998. In 2003 Donita moved to Seattle, where all three of her children and their families had re-located over the years.

Donita was a life-long reader and studier of theology and writers including her favorite author Flannery O-Conner. She was a lover of classical music. She was an attender of church and study groups. She educated herself about mental illness and was an advocate for connecting those suffering to needed resources. She also joined several book and movie groups in her later years and tutored a family with young children in Seattle who had re-located from Afghanistan - helping the children with their schoolwork, and the mother of the family with her English. Once she had become an “empty nester”, for many years both in Kansas City and in Seattle she enjoyed renting out rooms in her home to foreign students studying at local universities. Donita cherished the farm heritage and continued the shared management, begun by her parents at their retirement, with Fred Bloom. Another passion of Donita’s was capturing the stories of the “old time” farmers in Liberal, and she took a trip to interview then transcribe many of those stories which she compiled into a 2020 collection she titled “Narratives of Our Lives.”

Donita is survived by her 3 children and their families: Sheryl Payne, Heather Mekias and her husband Mohamed, Andrew Payne and his wife Mary. Donita was blessed with 7 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Her brother Paul Priefert and his wife Joan and their children Christen Blando and Noel Priefert and their families also survive her.

Donita’s grandchildren and great grandchildren include: Sheryl’s children Sophie Porcelli and husband Tim with children Archer and Keira, Winston Hallam-Eames and partner Lindsey Shattuck; Heather’s children Yusuf Mekias and son Yacine, Iman Mekias, Ismael Mekias; and Andrew’s children with his first wife Carrie (deceased in 2014), Ruth Payne and Alden Payne.

From a favorite poem of Donita’s by William Stafford: “There’s a thread you follow . . . Nothing you do can stop time’s unfolding. / You don’t ever let go of the thread.”

A funeral service will be held at 1 pm on Saturday, February 14, 2026, at St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 521 N Sherman Ave, in Liberal, Kansas, followed by burial alongside her parents and maternal grandparents at Restlawn Cemetery.

Funeral and burial arrangements are being handled by Hornung Family Funeral Home in Liberal.

Memorial donations can be made to Doctors Without Borders - Middle East (https://www.msf-me.org/) or to groups promoting love and peace in care of Hornung Family Funeral Home, 1212 W 2nd Street, Liberal, Kansas.

Condolences may be sent to the family at www.hornungfuneralhome.com