After ten happy years as part of the Lakeview Village senior’s community in Lenexa, Kansas, LaDonna passed away on October 16, 2026. Always grateful for what life had to offer, she was particularly grateful, as it came to a close, for the support of family, friends and caring professionals.
Born October 29, 1939, in Montgomery City, Missouri, she was the third child of Rolla Benton Henry and Florence Irene (Brooks) Henry. Preceding her in death, were her parents, sister Betty (Henry) Manuel and husband Juan Manuel, and brother Robert Henry. Surviving family include husband Gary Justice, son Jason Justice and his wife Kirnberly, grandsons
Christopher and Adam Justice, sister-in-law Della Henry and seven nieces and nephews.
LaDonna completed high school 1957 and graduated with honors fromCentral Methodist College in 1961. She then taught elementary grades in Brentwood, Missouri, Hamden Plains, Connecticut, and Osage Beach, Missouri. With a 1968 master’s degree in library science from the University of Missouri-Columbia, she began twenty-three years of service with the three-county Daniel Boone Regional Library system. Between 1978 and her retirement in 1996, she served as Administrative Librarian for the Callaway County branch. In 1992, largely in recognition of her determined leadership in enlarging the library physically and enhancing the range and currency of its services, the Callaway County Chamber of Commerce honored her with its initial Women’s Community Service Award.
Dedicated educator/librarian Justice trusted that, long after she was gone, the Public School and the Public Library would continue to play major roles in assuring our freedom of thought, our freedom of belief, and our freedom of self-expression.
Having met in college, LaDonna and Gary Justice married on June 9di 1962 at the United Methodist Church in Montgomery City. Son Jason was born on November 5th 1972. Over the years, the couple made their home in New Haven, Connecticut, in the Missouri communities of Osage Beach, Hallsville, Columbia (twice), and Fulton, and in the Kansas communities of Leawood and Lenexa.
During a committal service officiated by the Reverend Doctor James Hoffman, LaDonna’s cremated remains will be placed in the Memorial Garden of St. John’s United Methodist Church in Kansas City, Missouri.
Obituary published by Cremation Society of Kansas & Missouri.
