- Date Of Birth: October 13, 1941
- Date Of Death: October 23, 2022
- State: Minnesota
Donald Eugene Diesen was born on October 13, 1941 at the Children Maternity House in Roseau MN. Don was baptized here at Bethesda Lutheran Church in Skime, Minnesota with Elmer and Bertha Anderson as sponsors and confirmed by Reverend Berg at Bethesda Lutheran Church. Don was the youngest of eight children of Gustav and Bertha Diesen. He graduated from Roseau High School in 1959. Following high school, Don attended Hanson Mechanical Trade School for auto body training and worked for four years in the autobody repair trade. He changed careers and attended Dunwoody Industrial Institute and studied Mechanical Engineering Drafting and Design. He graduated in 1967 from Dunwoody. Don served in the Minnesota National Guard for six years. He attended basic training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. While there he attended two NCO schools. Later he attended a mountaineering school at Black Rapids Training Camp at Fort Greely, Alabama. In basic training he was coached by Captain Colin Powell on how to march a detail of men on streets of Fort Jackson. Also, while serving at an officer’s banquet, he met twelve generals which included WWII General Mark Clark. The final two years of National Guard he served as an assistant instructor teaching cadets at OCS Minnesota Military Academy in St. Paul. He was discharged at the rank of staff sergeant. After this Don worked at Farmhand Inc as a Tool Designer and from there to Winnebago Industries in Forrest City, Iowa. In addition, he worked in capital equipment design at Northland Aluminum and at Torit Division of Donaldson Company. Don retired from 3M after 23 years as a Design Specialist. On June 6, 1970, Don and Nancy Foster of Warroad Minnesota were married at Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. They had two children: Stephanie and Derek. Don and Nancy lived and worked in the Minneapolis area for 38 years. They spent 20 years of retirement in Skime, Minnesota and moved to Hillsdale, Michigan in 2021 to be close to their daughter and granddaughter’s family.
He was preceded in death by his parents Gustav and Bertha Diesen, and siblings Selma (Rigstad), Orville, Georgia (Lund), Walter, Gordon and Allan and in-laws William Lund, Linn Rigstad, Silvia Diesen and Violet Diesen.
Don is survived by his wife Nancy, children Stephanie Scott, son Derek (Amy) Diesen, granddaughters Megan (Matt) Hazelton, Shelby Diesen, Andrew Diesen, Joseph Diesen ; Linnea Diesen, great grandchildren Cady, Matthew (Max) ; Clara Hazelton and brother Roger (Judy) Diesen. Don immensely enjoyed his grandchildren and great grandchildren. He spent most of his working life designing and building machine and wood projects. He was able to design, build and fix anything. His hobbies during retirement included wood working and house projects. His calm and logical personality, and his unfailing problem-solving talent will be missed immensely by family and friends.
