<sod>Donna married her high school boyfriend and moved to Nashville (he was at Vanderbilt) immediately after high school. Though armed with only a high school degree and no experience, she began working at a radio station in Nashville. Two young girls, Vickie and Debbie, were born soon after.  The couple was quite poor. With a husband in school and Donna at a low paying but fun job, the money was scarce. Several years later Donna followed one of the disc jockeys from WKDA into his advertising firm, Bill Hudson and Associates. She moved up the hierarchy in that position. Several years later her previous boss at the radio station had also been running a music publishing company, Tree. When Mr Stapp ( owner of Tree ) called Donna to say his secretary had taken ill and had stated only one person could do her job, and that person was Donna Hilley, Donna moved over to Tree Publishing.  The position was "executive assistant" to Jack Stapp.  Not so slowly, but in a very dedicated and determined style that became two well known character traits in Donna.  The music business was historically a man's world, especially in those days.  Donna worked her way up to president and CEO later of Tree Publishing.<eod>
<sod>Donna married her high school boyfriend and moved to Nashville (he was at Vanderbilt) immediately after high school. Though armed with only a high school degree and no experience, she began working at a radio station in Nashville. Two young girls, Vickie and Debbie, were born soon after.  The couple was quite poor. With a husband in school and Donna at a low paying but fun job, the money was scarce. Several years later Donna followed one of the disc jockeys from WKDA into his advertising firm, Bill Hudson and Associates. She moved up the hierarchy in that position. In 1980 Donna and Rayford were surprised with the birth of their third daughter Whitney (19 & 21 years younger than Vickie and Debbie). Several years later her previous boss at the radio station had also been running a music publishing company, Tree. When Mr Stapp ( owner of Tree ) called Donna to say his secretary had taken ill and had stated only one person could do her job, and that person was Donna Hilley, Donna moved over to Tree Publishing.  The position was "executive assistant" to Jack Stapp.  Not so slowly, but in a very dedicated and determined style that became two well known character traits in Donna.  The music business was historically a man's world, especially in those days.  Donna worked her way up to president and CEO later of Tree Publishing.<eod>