Donald Wesley Elzenga

DONALD ELZENGA...

was born to Joe and Gertrude (Acterhoff) Elzenga on July 20, 1930 in Luverne, Minnesota. They lived in Rock County until 1936 when the family moved to California. In 1943 the family moved to Enumclaw, Washington. Don attended school in California, Washington, and Minnesota, graduating from Buckley High School in Buckley, Washington in 1949. In 1950 he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and went to basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. He was transferred to Bangor, Maine where he wrote for the base newspaper and took pictures. This is where he found his love for writing. Donald was honorably discharged in December 1954. He traveled the country for a short time before attending Mankato State College, graduating with a BS in English and Journalism in 1957. He traveled again to the West Coast after college where he later worked in the Mail Department of Boeing in Seattle, Washington. On October 25, 1962 he was united in marriage to Lorraine Menage in Enumclaw, Washington. After a year they made their home in Sibley, Iowa. Don’s love for books and reading led him to travel and teach English to high school students in several places in Minnesota and North Dakota in his early marriage years. He drove a moving van cross country and finally worked for the city of Sibley, Iowa where he got his Boilers License in 1984. He retired in 1995.

Don had built his own cabin in Park Rapids, Minnesota, where he loved to go to fish and read. After he sold his cabin he bought a small house in Holland, Minnesota, hoping to move there with his wife to be nearer to his family. After Lorraine’s death in 2008, Don moved to Holland where he loved to walk and read. He moved to Ridgeview Estates in Pipestone, Minnesota in 2013 and had many friends there. On March 8th he became ill and was in Avera Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He was transferred to Pipestone County Hospice House, where he died peacefully surrounded by his family on Sunday, March 26, 2017. He was 86.

Don is lovingly remembered by his sisters, Betty (Floyd) Henspeter of Port Townsend, WA, Sylvia (Clarence) Hardies of Holland, MN, Joan Ahn of Holland, MN, and Barbara Bonine of Pipestone, MN; and many other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his wife, Lorraine; an infant daughter, Diane; his parents; a sister, Marlene Brinkerhoff; infant brother, James; and brother-in-law, Marvin Bonine.

A private family burial will be held at a later date in Holland Cemetery.