Donna Reppe

Donna Reppe, 80, rural Crocker, the widow of Lyle, died on September 14, 2011 in a Watertown hospital after a brief illness. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 10AM in the St. Anthony's Catholic Church at Bristol with The Reverend Mike Kelly officiating. Music will be presented by Pat Marx as the organist and Wendy Christman as soloist. She will sing "Precious Lord, Take My Hand", "The Lord's Prayer" and "Ave Maria". The congregation will sing "Be Not Afraid", "On Eagle's Wings" and "Gentle Women". Readers will be Steven Reppe and Harley Lynch. The honorary casketbearers will be her granddaughters and great-grandchildren with the casketbearers being her grandsons. The granddaughters will also be the gift-bearers. Garth Dunlavy will be the server. Burial will follow in the St. Thomas Cemetery at Crocker. A rosary service lead by The Reverend John Short will be held at 4:30PM on Monday with visitation following from 5-8PM all in the Furness Funeral Home Chapel at Clark. Visitation will continue at the Church after 9AM on Tuesday morning in Bristol. She was born Donna DesLauriers on May 2, 1931 on a farm near Turton, SD, the daughter of Lester and Frances (Bertsch) DesLauriers. Donna attended the Barrie county school and graduated from Raymond High School in 1949. She attended Northern Teacher's College in Aberdeen from 1949-1950 and then went on to teach country schools until 1951. On May 31, 1951 she was united in marriage to Lyle Reppe at the St. Joseph's Catholic Church at Turton. After their marriage they lived in Crocker for 13 years before purchasing the A. P. Flatten homestead in Cottonwood Township. They raised grain and beef cattle on their farm. In December of 1992, they moved to the Einar and Lillian Reppe farm in Spring Valley Township, north of Crocker, and then retired from farming. Lyle died on December 24, 1998. Donna has continued living on the farm since his death and recently her son, Steve, has shared the farm with her. Donna had a strong faith in God and was a devoted member of St. Anthony Church and Altar Society. She was instrumental in clean-up and restoration of the St. Thomas Cemetery at Crocker and diligently served on that board until her death. Several years ago she participated in The Helpful Homemakers Extension group at Crocker. She loved gardening, canning, making jams and jellies, baking and family get-togethers. Second to none though was her love of family and being a care giver to all. Donna's philosophy was that family always came first. Preceding her in death were her parents, husband Lyle, her beloved daughter Lorie Obermeier and grandsons Thomas Bjerke and Arthur Andrew Lynch and a brother William DesLauriers. Grateful for having shared in her life are her 8 children, Steve of Crocker, Patty (Elwood) Peterson of Bradley, Dan (Tammy) of Conde, Bill of Bradley and his special friend Connie Bennett, Janet (Doug) Lynch of Webster, Cathy (Gary) Bjerke of Bradley, Christine (Bob) Meier of Doland and Carrie Reppe of Watertown; 14 grandchildren, Nicole (Greg) Kellar, Steven (Katherine) Reppe, Travis (Krysta) Peterson, Tanya (Josh) Lieberman, Troy Peterson, Tara (Jesse) Huber, Alex, Adam (Elissa) and Riley Reppe, Harley (Chelsea) and Blake Lynch, Tanner Bjerke and Wilkes and Serena Obermeier; 6 great-grandchildren, Lillie, Lucas, Avery, Katelyn, Alexia and Carson; siblings, Vic (Jeanne) DesLauriers of Doland, Ted (Esther) DesLauriers of Ellensburg, WA and Peggy (LeRoy) Monson of Crocker. She also leaves a son-in-law, Ted (Jody) Obermeier of Crocker and a sister-in-law, Carolyn DesLauriers of Watertown. If you wish, memorials can be directed to the St. Thomas Cemetery %the Reppe family at Crocker. For further information please go to www.furnessfuneralhome.com