Donna Detlefsen

Donna L. Detlefsen, age 64, of Atwater, passed away on Friday, August 6, at Carris Health-Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.

A celebration of life service will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, August 14, at Bethlehem Lutheran Church in Atwater.  Interment will be in the church cemetery.  Visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. on Friday, August 13, at the Atwater Funeral Home and will continue one hour prior to the service at the church.  Memorials are preferred to the Kandiyohi County Food Shelf or the Atwater Area Help for Seniors. Arrangements are with Peterson Brothers Atwater Funeral Home.  www.petersonbrothers.com

Donna Lurene Detlefsen was born on October 25, 1956, in Pipestone, Minnesota to Dean and Florence “Jo” (Hunstad) Gewecke.  She grew up in the Pipestone community and graduated from Pipestone High School in 1974.  Donna received her associates degree in accounting from the Willmar Area Technical College in 1976.  On September 24, 1977, Donna and Keith Bradley Detlefsen were united in marriage in Pipestone.  To this union three children were born: Brian Robert, Bradley Mark and Kelly Jo.

Donna worked in various office jobs through the years.  For the past ten years, she was employed for Kandiyohi County in the Vital Records Department and at the Kandiyohi County Sheriff’s office.  She retired in 2018.

Donna was enjoying her retirement, immensely traveling, working on projects long put off, and spending time with family and friends.  She particularly enjoyed spending lots of time with her granddaughter, Miley Ann Steen.

On June 5th of this year, Donna became sick with what was thought to be bronchitis.  Ending up in Urgent Care on a Saturday morning helped solved the mystery of why she wasn’t getting any better – lung cancer. From that initial discovery to end of life passed at a head spinning speed with many doctors, nurses, specialists, hospitals involved. But the cancer was too aggressive and had metastasized into too many places to overcome. Donna passed away on Friday, Aug. 6, at Carris Health-Rice Memorial Hospital in Willmar.

She is survived by her husband of 44 years, Keith; sons, Brian of St. Peter and Brad of Atwater; daughter, Kelly of Wilmar and beloved granddaughter, Miley Ann.  Also surviving is her mother, Jo Gewecke; sisters, Brenda (and Darin) Staab, Linda Carrow and Terri (and Mike) Appeldorn; brother, Steve (and Tami) Gewecke; her in-laws, Mark and Linda Detlefsen, Marsha Anton and Jane Detlefsen; her step-mother, Jan Gewecke; and several nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her father and sister, Debra.