Faces at Clarksville Meet Tonya Derner

Life isn’t always easy, but Clarksville Elementary Special Education Associate Tonya Derner believes in meeting challenges with a positive attitude, hard work and faith in a brighter tomorrow.
     After graduating from W-SR high school, she had planned to join the Army, but while still a teenager, she was diagnosed with cancer. Her right hand was amputated at the age of 17.
     “I thought I had everything figured out, and then life threw me a curve ball, and it had to be a different way,” Derner said.
     After beating cancer, she took a job at HyVee, and later moved on to working in the cafeteria at Wartburg.
 
Read more in the February 28 edition of the STAR.
 
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