Bobby Eugene Donohue

April 20, 1957 ~ August 3, 2023 (age 66)

Dr. Bobby Eugene Donohue, Jr., died at home in the presence of loving family members on August 3,
2023. Born in Norwich, England, Bobby grew up in both Norwich and various U.S. towns as the second of
five children born to his air force psychologist father Bobby Eugene Donohue, Sr. (deceased) and his
mother Patricia (Drake) Donohue who survives him along with all of his siblings. Bobby is also survived
by his loving wife of 45 years Donna Lee (Baldwin) Donohue as well as his children Kelly (Lucas) Burch of
Stephenville, TX, Megan (Jason) Pittman of The Woodlands, TX, Shannon (Jeremy) Markham of
Weatherford, TX, and Aaron Donohue of Addison, TX, along with their families.
Bobby received an honorary bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Midwestern State University where he
played on the college soccer team before he got accepted early into medical school at Southwestern in
Dallas, finishing his residency training at John Peter Smith Hospital in Fort Worth. Bobby and Donna
picked Stephenville as the idyllic place to start a medical practice because they wanted to raise their
kids in a small rural community, and Bobby desired to build a practice where he could care for
generations within the same family. And he did just that, delivering over 4,000 babies and delivering the
babies of babies he delivered over his 38 years of practicing medicine in this town. He often cared for a
new baby’s elderly relative in the nursing at the same time. His patients held his compassionate wisdom
in high regard and expressed their gratitude when he would pray with them in his exam rooms and the
hospital. Bobby started the Rural Health Service program out of his own office in conjunction with the
medical school, hosting medical students who wanted to learn about and be practically trained in the
unique practices of rural medicine. Some of that instruction might have included how he safely removed
an embedded fish hook out of a child’s hand in the foyer of his house when a neighbor showed up in
need on a weekend evening or how he agreed to barter for services when someone wanted to pay for
their maternity care by fixing his cattle fence. Bobby embarked on many medical mission trips from
Bolivia to Romania to Cambodia, sharing the Gospel while administering medical care. When he did
occasionally get away from work and go on a rare vacation, Bobby would relax at the beach with his
family after forcing them to stop at historical sites against their wishes where they “might accidentally
learn something” or he would enjoy fly fishing with dear friends from his men’s Bible study group. Bobby
reluctantly closed his office after his illness prohibited him from continuing to practice medicine, and he
deeply grieved the loss of his patients and his relationships with them through medical care. His
retirement dream was to do more long-term medical missions, using an RV as a clinic.
Bobby’s love language was fixing. Whether it was using super glue and an incredible amount of rubber
bands, the tools in his impeccably organized tool chest, or the decades of medical experience under his
belt, Bobby was known inside and outside his family as the man who could fix just about anything. One
of his daughters’ childhood friends even made up a song about Dr. Bobby Donohue, singing, “If he can’t
fix it, nobody can.” And if he didn’t know how to fix it, he would do whatever he needed to in order to
find out. He applied the same perseverance and determination to learning how to play his left-handed
acoustic guitar in order to serve in his local church worship band for many years. What he might have
lacked in natural musical ability, he made up for with sheer willpower and enthusiasm.
For the past decade, he relished his role as Papa to Olivia, Ethan, and Faye Pittman, and Nathan, Reece,
and Bethany Markham. He could often be found with one or many of his grandkids in his lap in his
favorite chair, sharing his intentionally stale gummy bears with them, reading books to them, or playing
with them on the floor in the living room or the piano room of DD and Papa’s house.
Bobby carried a red marble in his left pants pocket to remind him of the sacrifice Jesus Christ made with
His own blood to pay for our sin. When he was pressed for a difficult decision, he would often take it out
of his pocket and roll it around in his hand as he prayed for wisdom. Bobby followed the Lord Jesus in baptism as a young adult after making a personal decision to believe that Jesus was indeed the Son of
God who died for his sin and rose again and to live his life for God’s purposes. Yet, Bobby would tell
anyone in later years that he really began growing in his personal relationship with Jesus when he
started reading the Bible, God’s Holy Word, for himself in his 40s. He prayed and read the Bible every
day, sometimes multiple times a day, and committed large quantities of it to memory. He firmly believed
that committing scripture to long-term memory was just a matter of repetition and that it actually
changed the physical structure of your brain for the better. He encouraged everyone who would listen to
memorize God’s Word, knowing God would use it to speak to, direct, encourage, and guide that person
for a lifetime.
A memorial service celebrating Bobby’s life on earth and his new life forever in heaven will be held
Wednesday, August 9th, 2023, at 1:30 pm at Cottonwood Church in Dublin, TX. Anyone who wishes to
send flowers may send them to Cottonwood Church at 273 County Road 527, Dublin, TX, 76446.
Donations may be sent to the same directed to Cottonwood Kids Across Cultures, a Gospel-centered
medical and clean water mission the Donohues participated in. Funeral home arrangements are being
made by Lacy Funeral Home in Stephenville.