Edward August Viren II passed away on Saturday, March 21, 2020, at the age of 90. After months of declining health, he died peacefully at Eagle Cliff Manor in Billings, Montana, on the one-year anniversary of his wife’s death.
The oldest of three children, Ed was born on April 4, 1929, in Duluth, Minnesota, to Edward and Viola (Palmquist) Viren. From a young age, Ed’s life was characterized by his love of God, family, and adventure.
At 14 years old, he and his best friend “boarded” a freight train, headed west, and worked as cowboys for room, board, and a dollar a day. Lured home by the promise of the family farm in Minnesota, Ed, now 18, agreed to attend the Agricultural School in Grand Rapids, Minnesota where he, in his familiar retelling, met the Lord “alone in a room in an ag school.” This changed his life profoundly. Instead of pursuing a life of raising cattle, he pursued the souls of men.
He promptly enrolled at Bethel College in Saint Paul, Minnesota, as a literature major and eventually emerged as a missionary called to ministry in Grand Portage, Minnesota, where he built and pastored the Mount Rose Chapel (now Mount Rose Community Church). Ed also obtained a commercial pilot’s license in the early 1960s which allowed him to minister via “bush” plane to numerous remote communities throughout Northwestern Ontario.
Ed met the love of his life, Donna Feero of Jacobson, Minnesota, at a resort on Lake Vermillion. After they married in 1955, Donna joined Ed in Grand Portage where, in addition to partnering in the ministry and raising a family, she served as a nurse. They moved to the Grand Marais area in 1971, where Ed and his brother John built the Lake Superior Trading Post. While Ed continued with many additional adventures, including starting Wilderness Waters Canoe Outfitters, pastoring the Gunflint Chapel, logging and operating a sawmill, and directing Okontoe Missions Outreach, Donna worked as an RN at the Sawtooth Mountain Clinic. They spent the last decade of their pre-retirement years living on several Canadian Indian reserves starting in Eabametoong (Fort Hope), Ontario, and ending in Brochet, Manitoba. Ed worked alongside the local churches and Donna worked as a nurse for the Canadian government.
After retirement in 1995, Ed and Donna moved to Sheridan, Wyoming, where they were finally able to enjoy a few years of the ranch life Ed had dreamed of for years. They sold their ranch in 2001, moving to Carlile, Wyoming, back to Grand Portage for a year, then Willmar, Minnesota, and finally Billings, Montanna, in 2014. While their lives together included many adventures and moves, no matter where they were, Grand Portage was always considered home.
Ed was a strong, generous man who was passionate about serving others and whose heart was all about Jesus. He was rugged but gentle, and known for his kindness. He is loved and will be missed by many!
He was preceded in death by his loving wife of 63 years, Donna Viren; parents, Edward and Viola Viren; and brother, John Viren. He is survived by his four children Edward III (Janis) of Billings, Montanna, Bob (Leslie) of Sheridan, Wyoming, Deena Keil (Jeff) of Willmar, Minnesota, and Dan (Julie) of Grand Marais, Minnesota; grandchildren Matt (Angel), Brad, Kirk, Lee (Tina), Ahna, Jack (Brianna), Kevin, and Kylie; great-grandchildren Pierce, Johnathan, Gunnar, Alexandra, Olive, and Ingrid; sister, Helen Borg; many nephews and nieces; and honorary son and daughter, Chief Harvey and Helen Yesno; honorary grandchildren Harvey John, Sheldon, Rachel, and Adam Yesno; and honorary great-grandchildren of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
A joint memorial service for Ed and Donna will be held at Mount Rose Community Church in Grand Portage, Minnesota, sometime this summer.
Memorials may be designated to Mount Rose Community Church and sent to Dan Viren, PO Box 895, Grand Marais, Minnesota, 55604.
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