Brother Donald W. Hawks, age 76 of Springfield passed away Saturday, October 5, 2024 after a brief illness. Funeral services will be held Monday, October 14, 2024 at 1pm in the chapel of the Austin & Bell Funeral Home in Springfield with Dr. Eric Taylor officiating. Burial will follow in the Oakland Cemetery with Will Clark, Jason Spivey, Dillion Hardaway, James Hawks, Jeff Hawks, and Christopher Anderson serving as pallbearers. Honorary pallbearers are Robert Hawks, Jeff Lester, Chris Mayes, Larry Mitchell, Jake Spivey, and Jimmy Crawford.
Visitation will be held at the funeral home on Monday from 11am until the hour of service at 1pm.
Brother Hawks was born July 5, 1948 in Chicago, IL to the late Hubert “Cy” and Florence Ciecierski Hawks. He proudly served in the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War era and afterwards in the National Guard in Illinois for two years. After attending Bob Jones University for four years and graduating from Indiana University, Brother Hawks was ordained into the ministry at Logan Street Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, Illinois. He then pastored Southern Baptist Churches in Illinois for six years, happily baptizing his two children, his mother, and a brother, among many others.
In addition to his parents Brother Hawks is preceded in death by his brother, William Hawks, and his step-father, Nicholas Kukula.
Brother Hawks is survived by his beloved wife, Betty Jo Pitt Hawks; children, Kristin Carter and Katherine (Donnie) Braddock; his step-children, Mary Beth (Johnny) Clark and Robert (Connie) Lynn; his grandsons, Will Braddock and Sam Braddock; his step-grandchildren, Will Clark, Elizabeth Clark, and Dillion (Rachel) Hardaway; several step-great-grandchildren; his sisters, Patricia (Bobby) Hawks-Earley and Susan (Lee) Rouhselang, his brothers, James Hawks and Robert Hawks; and several nieces and nephews.
Austin & Bell Funeral Home in Springfield is in charge of these arrangements.
