Donna J. Stone

[1] Wielder of Words, edited by Stone's younger son, received a number of honors, and was named the American Poetry Society's 1991 Book of the Year.

Donna Stone and her brother grew up near Bexley, Ohio, an affluent suburb of Columbus, in a strict family of German descent.

She met and married her first husband, writer and aspiring playwright John Pascal, whose works would later include the Broadway musical George M!

One such example was her role in exposing the abuse and neglect of mentally challenged children in New York's infamous Willowbrook State School, once described by Senator Robert F. Kennedy as a "snake pit.

After a host of media attention, including the Peabody Award-winning series by Geraldo Rivera, the institution was eventually closed by the state.

Stone maintained her charitable activities, expanding her endeavors to include the National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse.

The Association for Retarded Children also moved their headquarters from New York to suburban Dallas, and Donna Stone remained a strong supporter.

According to the author's acknowledgments, the title was based upon a poem written as a birthday card for Stone by her younger son, who edited the book.

Stone accepted no profits from the book, and donated copies to various schools, libraries, literacy programs, and poetry societies.

Yet she continued to write, and during her final years composed some of her best-known poems including "Changing Seasons"[11] and, perhaps her most famous and most personal, "Of Matt and Me".