Madonna Burns Hennette

Madonna Burns Hennette passed away peacefully of natural causes in the loving care of hospice with some of her family in Orange Park Florida on March 24, 2022.

Madonna was born in Terre Haute on Jan. 9, 1928. She was the youngest of four children born to the late Mary Gurchiek Burns and John David Burns. She was a 1945 graduate of Garfield High School in Terre Haute.

She was the first in her family to attend college and become a 1948 graduate of Indiana State Teacher’s College, now known as Indiana State University, where she earned a B.A. degree in education. She was invited to join the Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society in Education. She later pursued graduate courses in life sciences and was employed in the field of medical technology. Upon her retirement from that profession, she pursued a career as the office manager for the dental office of William Aitken, D.D.S., in Terre Haute until relocating to Tavares, Fla.

Madonna was a lifelong member of the Indiana State Alumni Association, was a widow member of the Elk’s Lodge No. 86 in Terre Haute. She maintained an active lifestyle by walking, riding her bicycle, playing golf and bowling. She also made it her life mission to try to keep all her family as close as possible and in touch with each other despite the large distances between them.

Madonna was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, John; her two sisters, Leona Margaret Burns and Marie Eileen Seprodi, and her brother, John D. Burns Jr.

She is survived by her three children, Dr. John D. Hennette (Cindy) in Greencastle, Nancy Hennette Ellis of Orange Park, Fla., and Richard Hennette (Dee) of Wichita, Kan.; five grandchildren, Kelsey Hennette Hill (Beau) of Brownsburg and Jon Thornton Hennette in Whitestown, Jonathon Ellis (Michelle) in Jacksonville, Fla., Elliott Hennette and Jay Hennette of Wichita; and four great-grandchildren whom she had the pleasure of spending time with, twins Hadley and Huxley Hill and Brandon and Nathan Ellis. She also kept in special contact with her nieces, Donna Seprodi Burt (Ed) and Diane Seprodi Robinson (Michael), plus several other nieces and nephews and good friends that brought joy and smiles to her life.

Madonna was formerly a longtime member of St. Mary’s Village Church in St. Mary-of-the-Woods in West Terre Haute and was an active member of the St. Mary of the Lakes in Eustis, Fla., until her final move to Orange Park. She enjoyed being a reader during the masses in all of her parishes and was also a retired member of the Ministry of the Sick and of the Bereavement Committee at St. Mary of the Lakes.

A service will be held June 18 at 2:30 p.m. in Roselawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Terre Haute, where her cremated remains will be interred with her husband and members of the Burns family.

In lieu of flowers, she asked that memorials be made to the Carmelite Monastery, 59 Allendale Place, Terre Haute, IN, 47802; St. Mary of the Lakes Catholic Church or to the St. Vincent de Paul Society located at the church, 218 Ocklawaha Ave., Eustis, FL, 32726.