Donna Gem was baptized and confirmed at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in downtown Tampa, where she sang in the choir for many years.
Donna joined St. John’s in 1983 and became a very active member from that time on. She has led or participated in variety of different lay ministries, including: Sunday School teacher, Discovery Weekend team member, Cursillo weekend participant, Lenten program leader, Angle Tree Coordinator, and a Stephen Minister.
Currently Donna serves as a Verger, Lay Reader, Lay Eucharistic minister, Faith Café volunteer, and as the leader of the Newcomers’ Ministry. On almost every Sunday after the 9:30 a.m. service you can usually find her greeting people at the Welcome Table in the courtyard.
Donna (fka Donna Meagher) and her husband Alex were blessed to be married by Fr. Randy Hehr in 2012. Together they have a beautiful, blended family, which includes four grown children and six grandchildren. Donna is especially proud of her son Kevin Kellar, who continues to be very active at St. John’s, and was captain of St. John’s 2021 EMC campaign.
Outside of her ministries at St. John’s, Donna has held a 30-year career as Encryption Manager for a global credit card processing company. In her free time, Donna enjoys teaching dog obedience classes pro bono, volunteering at hospitals and assisted living facilities with her therapy bunny Harvey, and leading the Tampa Bay chapter of PayTech Women (networking and professional development in the electronic transactions Industry).