Having been blessed with 91 years of mostly excellent health, Nina Donaldson joined her Heavenly Father on August 19, 2016.

Born July 16, 1925, Nina was the seventh of Henry and Pauline Christopherson’s fourteen children. In her youth, she and her siblings attended Blairmoor School, so she always had company on the 2-mile walk from the family farm in Dunn County.

Coming of age during the Great Depression and World War II, Nina left school after completing the 8th grade and began working to help support the family. She worked in Milwaukee for a time, caring for a relative’s children. Returning to Dunn County, she helped care for the young children of Lewis and Viola Donaldson and waitressed at the cafe in Sand Creek. Given this employment, Nina seems to have been destined to meet Elwood Donaldson, Lewis’s eldest son and a Sand Creek native. Nina married Elwood on January 29, 1944. Together they had seven children: 5 boys and two girls.

Nina’s primary focus was caring for her children and tending to her home. She was a very skillful gardener, providing fresh produce and the juiciest, sweetest strawberry delights for her family. Nina was much beloved for her cooking skills: home-made noodles with chicken, glorified rice, and many delicious baked goods, including her buttermilk donuts, chocolate-chip cookies, and cinnamon rolls, to name just a few. Nina also assisted Elwood in his business operations as secretary and bookkeeper. She was active in the Sand Creek community, helping with various social events, attending PTA meetings, and serving as Cub Scout den mother.

Nina was surely a child of God. Baptized and confirmed at Hay River, throughout her adult life, she was an active member of the New Hope - Pine Creek congregation, where her parents and many of her brothers and sisters also attended. Every Sunday was like a family reunion, the Christopherson siblings gathering for coffee at the home place just down the road after church. Nina expressed her faith by teaching Sunday School for several years and enjoying the fellowship of Ladies’ Aid and the Friendship Circle for many decades.

As busy as her life was, Nina somehow found time to enjoy many interests. She was a master of word games and an avid music listener (especially old-time hymns and Classic Country). She brightened her yard with a variety of flowers and lilac, rose, and spirea bushes and transplanted many a maple tree from the woods. Nina enjoyed walks on the family acreage, frequently accompanied by one of her many cats and dogs. After Elwood retired, he and Nina traveled extensively and passed many winters in Apache Junction, Arizona. During her final days, Nina received the benefit of Mayo Clinic Health Systems hospice care and was tended in her home by her family, especially daughter Rebecca and granddaughters Adrian Thur and Tennille O’Connor. We are so grateful to all who eased Nina’s journey.

Nina was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Pauline (Peterson) Christopherson; all of her 13 siblings; her husband of 70 years, Elwood Donaldson; her granddaughter, Nicole (Larry) Donaldson; and her eldest son, Steven. She leaves behind six children - William, Donald (Linda), Larry (Amy), Sandra Dewitz, Rebecca (Kim) Fostvedt, and Scott; 19 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. We were all blessed to have Nina’s grace, beauty, and love in our lives.

Funeral services will be held at 12 noon on Tuesday, August 23, at New Hope Lutheran Church – Pine Creek in the town of Wilson, rural Ridgeland, with Rev. Josh Toufar officiating and interment following in the church cemetery. Visitation will be held for the hour prior to services at the church. In lieu of flowers, we ask that donations be made to Mayo Clinic Health Systems Home Health & Hospice (MCHS Hospice). Arrangements are with Rausch-Lundeen Funeral Homes, Dallas & Cameron.