Dr. Donna Ann Rhorer Tritschler

Funeral services for Dr. Donna Ann Rhorer Tritschler, 80, of Monroe, LA will be held at 10:00 A.M. Saturday, August 16, 2025, at Jesus the Good Shephard Catholic Church with Rev. Peter Mangum officiating. The Rosary will be prayed at 9:00 A.M., prior to visitation. Interment will follow at Mulhearn Memorial Park Cemetery under the direction of Mulhearn Funeral Home, Sterlington Rd. Monroe.

Dr. Donna Ann Rhorer Tritschler was shaped by stories: the ones she read, the ones she lived, and the ones she told. A well-traveled spirit in every sense. She was born in San Diego, California and was loved and supported by her parents John Milton and Magdalen Louise Hebert Rhorer. She graduated from Plaquemine High School in 1963 and later from Louisiana State University with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education.

Donna taught high school Civics, Speech, and English for numerous years while she earned a Master of Arts from Northeast Louisiana University in 1981. She later went on to achieve a PhD from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1990.

Donna married her beloved husband Charles Tritschler in 1987, and they enjoyed 12 beautiful years of love, laughter, and travel. Following a teaching appointment at Garrett Community College in McHenry, Maryland, she became a professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. She retired as a tenured professor of English in 2021, after serving for 31 years. She was a member of Phi Mu Fraternity and NELA ACTS.

Donna touched the lives of many through her gentle spirit, her quiet resilience, and her ability to persevere with grace through life’s challenges. Her strength was not loud or boastful, but steady and deep rooted in love and faith. She gave herself freely and without hesitation, offering kindness, wisdom, and unconditional love to those around her.

Donna found peace in her travels, and particularly enjoyed Vancouver and Lake Louise, Canada, places dear to her heart. She also found joy in the simple pleasures in life – whether it was sewing beautiful creations, reading literature or world history, or sharing moments with her children and grandchildren.

Donna is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Charles Tritschler; her parents, Magdalen and John Milton Rhorer; her sister Mary Sybil Lefebvre; her grandparents and family.

She is survived by her son; John Rhorer Higdon (Sheri); her daughter; Mary Mixon Wilbert Higdon Brinkerhoff (Bobby); her grandchildren, Carolyn Louise Higdon, John Rhorer Higdon Jr., and Emily Claire Brinkerhoff; her sister, Judy Louise Rhorer; her brother-in-law, Richard A. Lefebvre, Sr., DVM; her nephew and godchild Richard A. Lefebvre, Jr., DVM, (Susie); her nieces, Angela Louise W. LeBlanc (Keith), and Lauren Magdalen “LM” Lefebvre; and her grandniece and grandnephew; Madeleine Leigh Watts and Thompson A. “Tommy” Lefebvre.

Pallbearers are John Rhorer Higdon Jr., Richard A. Lefebvre, Sr., Richard A. Lefebvre, Jr., Keith LeBlanc, Jude Paul Aguillard, and Carl Thameling.

The family request that memorials be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the Feist-Weiller Cancer Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Jesus the Good Shephard School, or the Hanson-St. John Foundation in Franklin, LA.