Donna Mae (Nelson) Smith

OAK PARK HEIGHTS, Minnesota – Donna Smith, 87, of Oak Park Heights, Minnesota and formerly of Rochester, Minnesota and Mason City, passed away Oct. 1, 2024, at Oak Park Senior Living in Oak Park Heights, Minnesota.

A service of blessing and interment of ashes will occur on Saturday, Oct. 19, at 1 p.m. at Rose Hill Cemetery in Grundy Center.  The family will be hosting a private memorial service afterwards. 

Donna was born in Clear Lake, the youngest of five children born to Elmer Ernest Nelson and Lucy Rebecca (Nickerson) Nelson. The family had a farm south of Clear Lake until they moved to Mason City in 1946. Agriculture and farming were always an important part of Donna’s life and it was on the farm that she first developed her lifelong love of horses and dogs. 

Donna graduated from Mason City High School in 1955 and worked as a legal secretary before attending Mason City Junior College where, in 1959, she earned a Professional Commitment Degree in elementary education. That fall she began teaching fourth grade in Hampton, where she met her future husband, Merle Glenn Smith, originally from Grundy Center, who was a Hampton High School science teacher and multi-sport coach. The two married on Nov. 26,1960 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mason City and the following year they moved to Visalia, California. However, with the strong pull of family relationships and an expanding family, Donna and Merle soon moved back to the Midwest. Their first stop was in Cedar Rapids, where Merle took a position with Collins Radio before returning to teaching and coaching in Rochester, Minnesota in 1966. For the next 57 ½ years, Donna made a home for Merle, their four boys and two amazing dogs, nearly all of it living in the same home. 

Donna loved music and was an extraordinary singer. She performed radio broadcasts out of Mason City and often sang at weddings when she was younger.  For many years she used her marvelous voice to worship as she sang in the choir at Bethel Lutheran Church in Rochester. Nearly every day her home was filled with song, if windows were open, the neighbors could hear Donna singing throughout the day.

Her greatest loves, however, were her husband and her family. Donna was a tremendous homemaker and an outstanding sister, mother, grandmother, neighbor and friend. Her love was often manifested in her fantastic baking and cooking, something she continued to do until shortly before her death. If holiday events did not take place at Donna’s home, she could always be relied on to bring her famous cookies, cinnamon rolls, lefsa, and assortment of other baked goods. Of course, there was always a delicious chocolate cake and several types of cookies on hand for the boys and their friends.

Remaining to honor and celebrate her life are her loving husband, Merle; her sister (Rosemary Fjelstuhl); her sons Doug (Susan), Greg (Linda), Steve (Karen) and Dave (Jill); grandchildren (Kyle, Austin, Erica, Parker, Talen and Reed); in-laws (Jerry & Carol Smith, Bob & Becky Smith) and many nieces and nephews. 

In Heaven, Donna joins her parents (Elmer & Lucy), father and mother-in-law (Dale & Hazel Smith), brother and sister-in-law (David & Wanda Nelson), sister and brother-in-law (Iris & Wesley Anderson), brother (Ronald Nelson), brother-in-law (Leslie Fjelstuhl) and nephew (Brent Nelson).