LaDonna G. McDonald, 91
Blue Earth — LaDonna G. McDonald, age 91, of Blue Earth, died Sunday, July 17, 2011, at St. Luke's Lutheran Care Center, Blue Earth. Memorial services were held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, July 21, 2011 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Blue Earth, with Rev. Dr. Mark Wilms officiating. Burial will be held at a later date in Alabama. Visitation was held Wednesday, July 20, 2011, at Patton Funeral Home and one hour prior to the service at the church. Patton Funeral Home & Cremation Service of Blue Earth assisted the family with the arrangements. Web tributes may be left at www.pattonfh.com.
LaDonna G. McDonald was born on Aug. 24, 1919 in Elmore, the daughter of Clarence and Grace (Larson) Gaard. After graduating from Blue Earth High School in 1937, she attended business school in Mankato and settled briefly in Owatonna. She joined the Women's Army Corps in 1943 and was stationed in Dutch New Guinea. After the war and her honorable discharge, LaDonna worked as a civilian with the Allied Occupation Forces under General MacArthur in Tokyo, Japan. There she met and married Army Captain Arch "Mac" McDonald, from York, Ala. The following years brought assignments to Germany and states including Virginia, Florida (while "Mac" was stationed in Saudi Arabia) and Wisconsin.
Six children were born, none of them in the same place. After retirement from the military, the family lived in Golden Valley, but eventually moved to LaDonna's hometown, Blue Earth.
LaDonna and Mac enjoyed travelling and were dedicated snowbirds to Phoenix for many years. LaDonna always enjoyed her family, her church, playing bridge, needlework and occasional collecting. She was an inveterate correspondent with family and friends near and far, she loved keeping scrapbooks and dabbling seriously in genealogy, tracing her family's roots to Fister, Norway.
LaDonna is survived by five children, Eugene (Linda) McDonald, of Eagan, Susan (Paul Bonney) McDonald, of Smithfield, Va, Margaret (Matthew) Anderson, of Webster City, Iowa, John (Debra) McDonald, of Blue Earth, and Glen McDonald, of York, Ala.; one brother, Arthur (Dorothy) Gaard, of Inver Grove Heights; 13 grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Mac; her son, Thomas Arch; two brothers, Thomas and Donald Gaard; and three sisters, Audrey Roforth, Ruth Armstrong and Anne Newman.
In lieu of flowers please make donations in LaDonna's name to St. Luke's Lutheran Care Center in Blue Earth.
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