DONNA LYNN HOWELL, 51, of Playa del Rey, California, passed away May 12, 2016 in California.

Funeral services will be held Saturday, June 4th, at 2 p.m. at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee, Iowa. Rev. Eric Wright will officiate. Burial will be in Cedar Cemetery at Larrabee, Iowa. Visitation will be on Saturday from 11 a.m. until service time at the Boothby Funeral Home in Cherokee, Iowa. On line condolences may be left at www.boothbyfuneral.com

Donna was born December 16, 1964 in Miami, Florida to Donald and Viola (Leeds) Howell. She graduated from Winter Park High School in Florida in 1984. She attended the University of Central Florida and Columbia University; receiving her Master's Degree in Journalism with Honors, and also Pulitzer Fellow and DuPont Fellow. She was married to Ben Stragnell on November 25, 2000 at Los Angeles, California. She had worked for WBDO, 96.5 FM in Orlando from 1984-1986, WFTV, Channel 9 in Orlando from 1986-1988, WETU – TV, ABC Network affiliate from 1988-1989, WPEC – TV, CBS in 1991, worked for the Inside Edition and American Journal in 1990. And 1991-1995, was a freelance Author from 1984-1998 and worked for Investor's Business Daily in Los Angeles from 1999 until 2016. She had made her home in Los Angeles, California for 20 years and had also lived in Orlando, Florida, Greenwich, CT and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

She was preceded in death by her parents.

She is survived by her husband, Ben Stragnell of Playa del Rey, California; several aunts and uncles including: Carrie and Arthur Clark of Meriden, Iowa; Leon and Bertie Leeds of Waupaca, Wisconsin; Lorne and Macil Leeds of Kansas City, Missouri; Lewis and Jeneen Leeds of Cherokee, Iowa; Lowell Leeds of Parkville, Missouri; also many cousins.