LADONNA BARBARA TWYFORD passed away on December 1, 2025, at the age of 94. She was born in Hopedale, Illinois, on October 30, 1931, to Lawrence Nafziger and Edith Nolder Nafziger.
Following high school, LaDonna worked for State Farm Insurance Company in Bloomington, Illinois, where she met attorney Edward Ingram Staten, who was working as a Claims Adjuster. They later married on February 14, 1958, in Pine Bluff, Ark., where they raised their three children: Lisa, Kevin, and Susan. The family regularly attended Sunday services at Lakeside Methodist Church, spending summers traveling from one baseball field to the next, and attending countless dance recitals.
LaDonna loved yardwork and could often be found in the back yard carefully tending to one of dozens of Impatiens plants. LaDonna was a devoted mother and wife, caring for Ed in the home up until his last days, as he courageously fought his battle with cancer. Still faithfully attending church services, though now at First Methodist Church in Little Rock, LaDonna joined the Singles Sunday School Class, where she met, and later wed, Robert “Mickey” Twyford. The couple moved to Hot Springs to be near family and enjoyed spending their time travelling together. After Mickey’s passing, LaDonna moved to Little Rock, and thankfully, continued spending time with his family, John and Myra Twyford, and Chuck and Julie Harris, with whom she shared cherished lunches at Bobby’s Country Cookin’.
LaDonna was preceded in death by her parents, Edith and Lawrence Nafziger; her brother, Robert Nafziger, of Hopedale, Illinois; her first husband, Edward I. Staten; her daughter, Lisa Ann Newby, and her husband, Michael Steven “Mike” Newby, of Pine Bluff, Ark.
She is survived by her son, Kevin Joseph Staten, and his wife, Karan, of Little Rock, Ark., daughter, Susan Lea Carter, also of Little Rock; grandson, Michael Newby, of Pine Bluff, Ark., grandson, Grant Ingram Carter, of Siloam Springs; and granddaughter, Chandler Elise Carter, of Fayetteville, Ark.
The kindness and support from all of those at Woodland Heights who cared for LaDonna over the past seven years is greatly appreciated.
The family will hold a private service to honor her memory.
The online obituary is available at: www.robinsonfuller.com.
For memorial purposes, the family asks that you make donations to: Gentiva Hospice of Little Rock, at 301 Natural Resources Drive, #102, Little Rock, Ark., 72205.