Donna Meirose, 1936-2015

Published 9:00 am Sunday, May 24, 2015

Memorial services for Donna M. Meirose of Albert Lea will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at St. Theodore Catholic Church. The Rev. Timothy T. Reker and Deacon Mike Ellis will officiate. Friends may greet the family from 4 to 7 p.m. Friday at Bonnerup Funeral Service and one hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will be in St. Theodore Catholic Cemetery.

Donna Meirose

Donna Meirose died Wednesday, May 20, 2015, at St John’s Lutheran Community in Albert Lea. She was 79.

Donna was born May 1, 1936, in Cedar County, Nebraska, the daughter of Franz and Frances (Albrecht) Meirose. She was a graduate of a high school in Yankton, South Dakota, and Sacred Heart School of Nursing, also in Yankton. In 1967 she received a public health grant to study at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. That was the start of what was then called progressive care and eventually became critical care. Donna set up classes with three other physicians and the cardiac care unit was established. They were the first in a community hospital setting. She also covered other nursing areas, but critical care and emergency room became her favorite. She organized and compiled her own cardiac teaching program so future nurses no longer needed to go elsewhere to obtain the necessary knowledge. Community involvement included speaking at the Minnesota Heart Association meeting in Minneapolis in 1967, being active in the Freeborn County Cancer Society, organizing first D-Day Campaign in Freeborn County and speaking at various service clubs including Kiwanis, Sertoma and Midwestern Clubs.

She was Career Woman of the Day, nominated for District 241 Citizenship Award, was chosen to be the Who’s Who Woman of the Year and had the great honor of being awarded the Mount Marty Distinguished Service to Church/Community in 1981.

Donna was very active in church activities, including working with First Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults program at church for many, many years, and being a eucharistic minister, lector and secretary for church council.

She loved to travel and visited many places all over the United States, along with Alaska, Canada, Italy, France, Capri, Kenya, Africa, Honduras, Guatemala and into the jungle and Mayan culture. She also loved Caribbean cruises.

Donna managed a 24-unit apartment complex for 20 years and remained active in the American Red Cross, doing blood pressure checks at the mall and occasionally working at the hospital. She was a 20-year survivor of breast and colon cancer. In her free time she enjoyed playing the piano, cooking and baking, and counted cross stitch.

Always and forever remember this: People never accomplish anything alone, always there are those who help others along the way, be it family, teacher, friends, coworkers and — most of all – the eternal Lord.

Donna is survived by her good friend, Jeanne Wendell, of Albert Lea; brothers James (Lavon) Meirose of Platte City, Missouri, and Thomas (Diane) Meirose of St. Charles, Missouri; nephews Paul (Jane) Meirose and their three children, Anne Grace, Sarah Kate and Mary Jane, Stephan (Kim) Meirose and their three children, Jordan Matthew, Abigail Marie and Benjamin Paul, Scott (Kelley) Meirose and their sons Cole Matthew and Caleb Jordan and Christopher Meirose; and niece, Lisa Marie Luetkemeyer Meirose (Brian), and their two children, Katelyn Elizabeth and Jacob Brian.

She was preceded in death by her parents Franz and Frances Meirose; and sister, Urusla Meirose.

Memorials are preferred in lieu of flowers to the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association or the American Red Cross.