Jeanette “Jan” Datin McKoon
Samuel Anthony Wilson,
54, of Grand Marais, passed on December 20, 2009 after a courageous battle with lung cancer.
Sam was born September 26, 1955, the son of Betty Wilson (Grand Marais) and Gordon Wilson (Longville).
He was preceded in death by Larry and Leon Wilson.
Sam leaves behind his loving wife, Peggy and two labs, Jet and JoJo. He is also survived by brothers Don, Gary, Terry, Ronnie and Perry, and sisters Mary, Hope, Debbie, Barbara, and Leona; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.
At Sam’s request no services will be held. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Grand Marais State Bank for Peggy Wilson.
Sam may now rest in peace, and may now do all the things he couldn’t for so long.
Arrangements by Cavallin Funeral Home.
(Iva) Jeanette “Jan” Datin McKoon
died quietly in her sleep late in the evening of Dec. 27, 2009, at the age of 94, at her daughter Nancy Olson’s home in Cologne, Minn., a suburb of Minneapolis.
Marion Earl Killmer
Jeanette was born July 25, 1915, in Davenport, Iowa, the second daughter of Wilma Ceclia Horst Datin of Davenport and William Lassie Datin of Nauvoo, Ill., and granddaughter of well known Scott County, Iowa, residents Elise Hellberg Horst and Henry J. Horst.
Jeanette was preceded in death by her husband, John Willis McKoon, originally of Nauvoo, Ill.; by her sister, Margaret Elizabeth Datin Muhs of Davenport; and by her parents.
Surviving family members include daughters Gail Ann McKoon, Columbus, Ohio (Roger Ratcliff); Nancy Sue McKoon Olson of Cologne, Minn. (Allen Olson); Julie Kay McKoon Belschner of Seneca, S.C.; grandchildren Kathleen Ratcliff, Christopher Ratcliff, Jennifer (Mike Spiering), Paul Olson (Maxine), Annette Olson, Erica (Dennis Reindl), Jamie (Paul Harmon), and Jim Belschner (Andrea); and great-grandchildren Kailey, Gracen, Ashley, Landri, Joren, Aidan, Maggie and Ryan.
Jeanette attended school in Davenport, Iowa, including Davenport High School (now Davenport West), and in Mt. Joy at a country school, as she spent much of her childhood with her grandparents in Mt. Joy. She attended college at St. Ambrose in Davenport and at The Art Institute of Chicago.
After graduation Jeanette taught at a one-room schoolhouse near Mt. Joy, and then taught sixth grade in Davenport. She married John McKoon on Aug. 7, 1943, in Nauvoo. She continued to teach until her husband returned from World War II. The couple settled in Maynard, Iowa.
Jeanette was quite active in the First Presbyterian Church in Maynard. She worked for several years at the Farm Service with her husband, and then returned to teaching in 1970. She taught sixth grade at West Central Community Schools in Maynard for 10 years before retiring. John passed away in 1974.
After retiring, she moved to Grand Marais, Minn. There she enjoyed traveling, volunteering, hiking, skiing, swimming and blueberry picking. Jan and friend Nancy Benson often enjoyed a donut at the World’s Best Donuts shop before heading into the woods in pursuit of those blueberries. She was an active participant at the Grand Marais Senior Center, including handcrafting quilts to be raffled as fundraisers. She was always very proud of her flower gardens.
Jeanette moved to live with daughter Nancy in early 2007. She was a loving mother and wife and will be missed greatly.
A funeral service will be held at 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2, 2010, at the Johnson Funeral Home in Waconia, Minn. Jeanette requested cremation.
A memorial service will be held in the late spring in Maynard, at the Presbyterian Church. Please e-mail juliekaybel@yahoo. com to be notified of date and time.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in Jeanette’s name to the Carver County Adult Daycare Center – “Encore” – at 609 1st St. W., Waconia, MN 55387. During the three years Jeanette lived with Nancy, she spent most days at Encore and tremendously enjoyed the music, exercise, games and talk. The staff is excellent and greatly increased the quality of Jeanette’s life.
Marion Earl Killmer
died December 26, 2009. Marion was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on October 15, 1918 to Earl Coy and Sarah Josephine (Arny) Killmer. He attended grade school in Saint Paul, graduated from Mechanic Arts High School in 1937, and studied for three years at the University of Minnesota, majoring in Agricultural Science with a minor in Horticulture. There he met Virginia Rose Massie in 1939. Virginia and Marion were married on June 20, 1942 in the United Protestant (Congregational) Church in Grand Marais.
Since 1941 Marion was field and shipping manager for Killmer’s Northern
Nurseries
in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, a family business begun in 1917 by his father. In 1966, he and his wife became owners of the nursery which they operated in Apple Valley for six years. This was a wholesale and retail bulb operation covering sales in the Upper Midwest. Theysold the physical facilities for the retail business in 1972 due to Virginia’s ill health, but continued activity in wholesale sales of nursery stock. They set up an office, warehouse, and freight-handling facility for a major Dutch flower-bulb company, Witteman & Company (Hillegom, Holland). Marion became vice-president of its wholly-owned American subsidiary, the Multiflora Bulb & Import Company, a Minnesota corporation based in St. Paul, and continued in this capacity until 1976.
Marion and Virginia moved to Grand Marais in 1973- 74, building their home on Lake Superior west of town. For ten years they hosted over 400 guests in their Bed and Breakfast home on Lake Superior, Killmers
on the Water.
Marion’s hobbies included photography, painting, printing, gardening, choir, writing poetry, correspondence, and wine-making; he also enjoyed amateur cooking and canning. For 15 years Marion sang with a men’s chorus of 12, the Fireside Fellows. He designed and published a quarterly newsletter for 10 years for the Minnesota Rural Artists Association. He also taught winemaking for a community education program in the late 1980s, which was featured in the Cook County News-Herald.
Marion’s book of poetry, Comether,
was published in 2004 and appears in the collection of the Library of Congress. In 1966 he was recognized by the University of Minnesota with a certificate of merit for leadership furthering the practice of and interest in the creative arts throughout the State of Minnesota.
His church memberships included St. Anthony Park Methodist Church (1918- 1966), Rosemount Methodist Church (1966-1971), Falcon Heights United Church of Christ (1972-1974), and the First Congregational – United Church of Christ in Grand Marais (1975-2007). For many years at the latter, Marion printed church bulletins, created the church photo album, and was church photographer.
Marion’s memberships included the Pine Bend Boy Scout Club, Pine Bend Association, Cook County Historical Society (life member), Library Friends of Grand Marais, Minnesota Rural Artists Association (officer), American Association of Nurserymen, Minnesota Nurserymen’s Association, and Nederlandse Instituut Bloembollen Vakkannis (life colleague of the Netherlands Institute of Flowerbulb Growers).
Marion and Virginia have four children: Ronald (Edith), Bruce (Penny), Debra (Kenji Tachibana), and Richard (Nancy); grandchildren Jennifer (Greg Leaf), Kellene, Candace, Corrien, Sunny Jo (Paul Stauff), Jamison, and Katrina Killmer (Kyle Tholen), and Sarah Tachibana; stepgrandson Eric Tachibana (Li Hsien Lim); great-grandchildren Jennifer, Lauryn, and Mark Tachibana, and Annora Leaf.
Marion was preceded in death by parents Sarah and Earl Killmer; step-mother Hazel Ryno Killmer; parents-in-law Rosa and Homer Massie; sister Helen (Herbert) Norman; brothers-in-law Howard (Linnea) and Philip (Auneda) Massie; daughter-in-law Penny Killmer; nephew Thomas Massie; and grandson Andrew Warren Killmer. He is survived by sister Jeanne (Wells Stewart Jr.) Marshall, four children, nine grandchildren, four greatgrandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.
A memorial service will be held in Grand Marais, Minnesota, in spring 2010. Arrangements by Cavallin Funeral Home 218-834-2952.
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