Dawna Lee Hughes Compton

All the saints lined the streets of gold and welcomed Dawna Lee Hughes Compton, 56, of Kernersville, home to glory on Monday, November 9, 2026. Her life was beautifully defined by unwavering faith, unconditional love, and a gentle spirit.

Her family holds tight to the comfort of her eternal peace, even as they feel the weight of her absence. They know the first holidays, the birthdays, and the quiet moments ahead will be the hardest to bear without her.

Yet even in their grief, they find joy in imagining her glorious new beginning: her very first steps into the place prepared just for her, a sweet and long-awaited reunion with those who went before, and her first embrace from her Savior. Most of all, they celebrate that she has finally heard the words she lived her whole life to hear, the very words those she leaves behind long to hear themselves one day: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Dawna was born on Tuesday, November 3, 1970, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to Donald Wayne Kent Hughes and Nancy Lee (Patterson) Hughes. The family made their home in nearby Mechanicsburg until 1984, when they moved to Kernersville, North Carolina, and Kernersville remained Dawna’s home for the rest of her life. It was there that she graduated from Glenn High School in 1989, and there that she raised her son, Jonah.

If you ever talked with Dawna, you will always remember that she was truly interested in what you had to say. She never made your struggles or worries seem small, no matter how large her own were. Through your good times and your bad, she was there, cheering you on.

If you were blessed to have truly known her, you will remember that her compassion came with honesty. She would help in any way she could, but she also had a way of letting you know that sometimes, if you make your bed, you have to lie in it. She adopted a saying from a leader she respected, “People who play stupid games get stupid prizes,” but she never stopped there. Good advice for finding your way through always followed. Dawna never forgot to see the other side of every conversation and every situation, and she made sure you saw it too. More often than not, that new perspective turned something that seemed harsh into something you could understand.

For more than 25 years, Dawna made a career of looking after people. She began in training and team management with Sears Holdings Corporation, recruited talent for UPS through NCO Group, and served as U.S. Employee Relations Manager for American Express before leading human resources for RadioShack and, most recently, Republic Services. As Division Human Resources Manager there, she supported hundreds of employees across North Carolina and Virginia. She held the SHRM-SCP and SPHR, two of the senior certifications in her field, and wherever she went she was known for coaching, for standing up for employees, and for building strong teams.

Dawna never failed to give what was needed. Nothing brought her more joy than being chosen to help when Republic Services stepped in after natural disasters, caring for the community and its own employees alike. She loved to show up in a bad situation with whatever people needed, whether supplies or services, to help them recover and get back to their lives.

Years into her career, Dawna went back to school at John Wesley College in High Point, graduating summa cum laude in 2010 with a degree in Business Management and Ethics. She received the Laurel Wreath Award in 2011, was chosen as the student representative for the school’s presidential installation ceremony, and went on to serve six years on its Board of Trustees.

Dawna never waited for “someday.” A few years ago she wrote, “At the end of our lives, no one will say ‘I wish I had worked more!’ … If you dream of doing something, figure out how to do it now. … Travel to your dream destination. Go home early to be with family. Make that phone call. … The one standing at the end of life with the least regrets truly wins.” She lived every word of it.

Dawna loved good times with good people: brunches she planned with her friends, camping trips, and weekends at mountain cabins. She loved trivia, and she was proud of knowing what she called “a lot of useless information.” On a bucket-list cruise through Italy, Turkey, and Greece, she won trivia contest after trivia contest aboard the ship. She came home very proud of her collection of “life-changing prizes,” which consisted of Royal Caribbean pens, koozies, and squeeze balls. That same trip took her to Pompeii, one more item checked off her bucket list.

She loved touring museums and watching documentaries about history and the paranormal. One of her favorites was the Mothman Museum, and she was thrilled to have her picture made with the Mothman statue’s famous “shiny hiney.” She loved concerts, too, and in her younger years enjoyed Tesla, Guns N’ Roses, and Pearl Jam, just to name a few.

Dawna got to see two total solar eclipses, a twice-in-a-lifetime experience most people never have. In August 2017 she traveled to South Carolina with Lois, Jonah, and Jordan to watch the sky go dark, and in April 2024 she saw it all again in Cleveland with Lois, her cousins, Lisa and Jamie, and Jamie’s son, Liam.

Dawna loved traditions, and most of all she loved spending the holidays with family. She was always delighted that everyone loved her Christmas ham, and she looked forward all year to the old family tradition of ham juice over egg noodles.

Jonah was blessed with a mother who was present and who made sure their time together was quality time. Their adventures ranged from a behind-the-scenes White House tour in Washington, D.C., complete with snipers on the lawn, to late-night trips to Central Park in New York, right down to Saturday afternoons touring Reynolda House and Old Salem.

For more than 20 years, Dawna was part of the Fokers (Friends of Kernersville), a group of friends who first came together through the Jaycees and who have spent many hours on philanthropy as well as social events. Her favorite Foker event was the famous Halloween party, and every year she strived to have the best costume. Through the Fokers, Dawna made lifelong friends and so many excellent memories, trips, and adventures. She found the same in the Bold Bettys, a wonderful group of women of all ages who love to have fun and plan trips, from camping to weekends in luxurious cabins. They gave Dawna so many memories, laughs, and friends who were very dear to her.

Dawna leaves behind a family she loved deeply: her mother, Nancy, and stepfather, Rev. Alfred Boesenberg, of Kernersville; her son, Jonah Compton, and her daughter-in-love, Jordan, of Kernersville; the young man she called her “bonus child,” Daniel Holder, of Kernersville; and her sister, Lois, and brother-in-love, Douglas Line, of Kernersville. She also leaves her nephew, Jordan Line, and his fiancée, Ainsley Weimer. Dawna adored Jordan’s boys, Kent Jacob “KJ” Line and Wade Archie Line. To them she was always “AD,” their Aunt Dawna, and she always will be.

She is also survived by Dee Dee Carson and her husband, Rodney. It became a family joke that Dee Dee, who sat with the girls at church every Sunday, was Nancy’s neglected “middle daughter,” the one with no pictures on the wall. As Dee Dee stood faithfully by Dawna’s side, the joke became the truth, and this past summer Dawna gave her a “Middle Sister” bracelet to match the “Big Sister” and “Little Sister” bracelets she and Lois wore.

Dawna is further survived by her stepsister, Kimberly Calloway, of Mocksville; her stepbrother, Eric Boesenberg, and his wife, Beth, of Tampa, Florida; and her stepbrother, Greg Boesenberg, of Kansas. She also leaves her aunt, Nancy Hughes, of Uniontown, Pennsylvania, and her cousins: Dr. Lisa Hughes of Cleveland, Ohio; Dr. Jamie Tipler and her son, Liam, of Hurricane, West Virginia; and Dr. Harry Hughes III and his wife, Wendy, of Augusta, Georgia, along with their son, Hunter Hughes, and their daughter, Hailey Hughes, and her husband, Jordan Reynolds.

She leaves behind her former mother-in-law, Dee Compton, of Kernersville. Dawna and Dee loved and cherished each other deeply to the very end. She also leaves her dear friends of the Fokers, including Sandy Proctor, Tracy McCrary, Dennis Hutchinson, Yvonne Nelson, Sara Rutherford, Keith Morrow, Rachel Payne Morrow, and Monica Dittmer, and her friends of the Bold Bettys.

Waiting at the front of the line for her streets-of-gold homecoming parade were the saints who went before her: her father, Donald Wayne Kent Hughes; her beloved nephew, Jacob Allen Line; her paternal grandparents, Harry and Irene Hughes; her maternal grandparents, William and Irma Patterson; her uncles, Harry Hughes II and John Patterson; and her dear Foker friends, Darin McLaugherty and Jerry Proctor.

Family and friends are invited to a viewing on Thursday, November 12, 2026, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Hayworth-Miller Kernersville Chapel, 3950 Macy Grove Road, Kernersville, NC 27284. A celebration of Dawna’s life will be held on Friday, November 13, 2026, at 1:00 p.m. at Passion Church, 4368 Stokesdale Avenue, Winston-Salem, NC 27101. A meal will follow the celebration in the church’s NXT LVL fellowship hall. Dawna will be laid to rest at Mount Gur Cemetery in a private graveside service.

In keeping with Dawna’s wishes, the family asks that, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions be made in her name to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (www.cff.org/donate) or the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.pancan.org) to help continue the search for a cure.

Hayworth-Miller and Cain of Kernersville, NC, has been entrusted with the arrangements.

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” — 2 Timothy 4:7