Obituary of Rev. Deacon Donna Jeanne (Tilton) Gleaves

The Rev. Deacon Donna Jeanne (Tilton) Gleaves passed away Sunday, May 11, 2025, at Peace Hospice in Great Falls from a rare form of adrenal gland cancer. She was 73. Donna was an advocate for people with developmental disabilities, and as a devout Christian she assisted efforts to feed, clothe and house people who were less fortunate. She served the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation in Great Falls for nearly three years as deacon and church administrator. A Celebration of Life will be held Wednesday, June 11, at 11 a.m. at the Episcopal Church of the Incarnation, 600 3rd Ave. N. in Great Falls. Interment will follow the service at the columbarium of Church of the Incarnation, with a reception to follow in the parish hall. Donna was born Feb. 20, 1952, into a Navy family in Quonset Point, R.I., to Donald E. Tilton and Jeanne (Conlin) Tilton Ledvina. Don was a member of the Navy’s Underwater Demolition Team, now known as the Seals. Donna and her sister Deborah grew up in Norfolk-Virginia Beach, Va. Donna often reminisced with her husband, Glen, about spending memorable summers with grandparents at their Maine cabin in the woods, about weekly community lobster dinners, and attending Camp Laughing Loon with her sister, Deborah. Donna graduated from Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in English at Old Dominion University in Virginia. Her aim was to become a high school English teacher, but after a term of student teaching, she refocused her career. In high school, Donna’s work first began in her mother’s advertising tabloid business. After her first marriage, she became department secretary in Applied Physics at Yale University. When son Jeremy was born with significant disabilities, Donna’s natural leadership qualities came to the forefront. She stood behind Jeremy in special education throughout his mainstreamed school years and gave her an early impetus to focus her life’s work. In the meantime, she worked for New York Life in Virginia Beach. Advocacy and social services became her passion. Donna was hired as executive director of United Cerebral Palsy of Virginia, and later became executive director of the West Virginia DD Council, teaching parents how to work with federal and state legislators and to use their powerful voices to improve the lives of loved ones and others. She was laser-focused on helping people with DD to live as they choose, not as patients to be pitied or warehoused out of sight and mind of an uncomfortable public. Donna taught people to think differently and was an early adopter of “People First” language. Traditional language defined folks by disability first, but she favored putting people first. “The disabled” becomes people with disabilities; “the crippled man” becomes the man who uses crutches; and the “wheelchair-bound girl” becomes the girl who uses a wheelchair. The Americans with Disabilities Act passed in 1990, and today folks with disabilities are everywhere, engaged in all aspects of life! Donna Gleaves was a strong early voice empowering people with disabilities to live full, productive lives. After Jeremy finished high school in Charleston, W.V., Donna took a staff position with the National Association of Developmental Disabilities, in Washington, D.C., where she eventually became executive director. That’s where Donna met Glen, who was serving as a regional representative to the association’s board. At this point in their lives, both were single. After sitting, quarterly, in long meetings, awash in the alphabet soup of governmental acronyms and discussing impending legislation, the group unwound after each day’s meetings. Eventually, the group dwindled to four eyes over a candle, Italian cuisine and a nice cabernet! And the business relationship blossomed into love between Donna and Glen. Glen whisked Donna out West to Salt Lake City, where she became executive director of a DD advocacy group, The ARC of Utah. The couple married in Utah May 25, 2002. Within two years, Glen, a medically retired Episcopal priest, was called to become part-time rector of two tiny Episcopal parishes in the northwest Montana towns of Libby and Troy. There, Donna helped organize these churches as their first administrator. Donna also noted that economically-depressed, largely elderly and rural Lincoln County had no public transportation. So she helped create the Lincoln County Transportation Service (LCTS), an area public transit service offering door-to-door services to as far away as Kalispell. In 2008, Donna and Glen moved to Livingston to a cluster of regional parishes, where Donna served as cluster administrator, and became active in a group of powerhouse women working for political causes. While at St. Andrew’s Church, she formally pursued discernment for ordained ministry, being called to a life to serve others. Donna was ordained in 2011, and spent a year as a new deacon, serving St. James’ Church in Bozeman. From 2012 onward, the couple spent several summers working together in Yellowstone National Park, including at the front desks at Madison Campground and the Old Faithful Inn and OF Lodge. Later in the decade, the couple bought a house near East Helena and attended the Episcopal St. Peter’s Cathedral in Helena, where Donna became administrator and deacon. In 2022, the couple retired to Great Falls, where she became deacon and parish administrator at the Church of the Incarnation. She joined the Great Falls Progressive Ministerial Association and the women’s educational philanthropy organization, PEO. Donna was elected twice as a deputy to the Episcopal Church’s General Convention and served six years on the board of directors of Disability Rights Montana. Donna had a soft spot for pets as important members of the family, including Ralph, an English Springer Spaniel; Roxy, an Aussie-Border Collie mix; Bridger, another Springer; and Murphy, a Miniature American Shepherd. Donna’s love of gardening made her happiest when she had a bit of dirt under her fingernails. Donna’s professional colleagues and church friends were a great part of her life, including the Episcopal bishop of Montana, the Rt. Rev. Martha Stebbins of Helena; Diane Wood, Jeremy’s first notable special education teacher; Incarnation’s rector, Pastor Ryan Eikenbary; as well as many close friends and parishioners in Great Falls and Bozeman. Donna was the love of Glen’s life. Together, they shared the love of travel, a desire to improve the lives of people living with disabling conditions, gardening and home improvement. But most of all, they shared the love and calling of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Together, they shared many years of ministry together. Wherever Donna worked, she empowered others, touching tens of thousands of lives for the better. Donna’s family wishes to thank the staff of Benefis Hospital, Grandview Cottages and Peace Hospice for their compassionate care. Donna passed peacefully into the loving arms of our Lord, from an exceedingly rare adrenocortical carcinoma that was discovered far too late. Donna is survived by her husband, the Rev. Glen Gleaves of Great Falls; sister, Deborah (Tilton) McNaney (Jimmy), of Suffolk, Va.; her son, Jeremy Zoby, of Bozeman; stepdaughter Katherine “Katie” Gleaves (Chris Wells) of Salt Lake City; and half-siblings Renée (Tilton) Scroxton and Eric Tilton, of Virginia; as well as cousins, stepchildren, nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Donald E. Tilton and Jeanne (Conlin) Tilton Ledvina; her aunt, Louise (Conlin) Mickelsen, of Bozeman; and an uncle, Richard Conlin (Madeleine Tremblay), of Montebello, Quebec. A luncheon reception will follow the funeral service in the parish hall. Wheelchair access with assistance is possible via the side door into the nave, and to the parish hall via a wheelchair lift where the buildings join. Memorials may be made in Donna Gleaves’s name to her favorite charities: the Incarnation Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 3046, Great Falls, MT 59403; Helping Hands at First English, 726 2nd Ave. N.; or a charity of your choice. Cremation has been entrusted to Schnider Funeral Home. For more information, please visit the church’s website, www.incarnationgreatfalls.com, or www.schniderfuneralhome.com, to leave condolences.