Donna Gast

Donna Elaine Gast, 85, of Willmar, died Wednesday, November 13th at Bethesda Grand in Willmar.  Her funeral will be 3:00 pm, Saturday, November 16th at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Willmar with burial in Fairview Cemetery.  Visitation will be from 5-7:00 pm, Friday, at Harvey Anderson Funeral Home in Willmar and continue on Saturday one hour prior to the service at the church.  www.hafh.org

Donna was born May 23, 1934, in Maynard, Minnesota, the daughter of Bert and Sarah (Brekken) Lalim.  She grew up in the Maynard area where she was baptized and confirmed at Wang Lutheran Church and graduated from Maynard High School in 1952.  Following high school, Donna lived in the cities for a time before returning to the Willmar area and worked at Sears.

On November 9, 1963, she was united in marriage to Darvin Gast at Wang Lutheran Church.  They lived and farmed the Gast Family farm south of Willmar and Donna stayed home to raise their family.  After the children were old enough, Donna became the manager of Skylark Mall of which she managed for almost 20 years before retiring.

She was a dedicated member of Redeemer Lutheran Church where she was active in Stephen’s Ministries, attended Bible Study regularly and belonged to the Ruth Circle.  Donna also belonged to a sewing club and was active with home extension.  Her happiest moments in life where following her granddaughters around the area and even state with their sporting events.

Surviving are her husband of 56 years, Darvin of Willmar; daughters, Darla (and Joe) Hammerschmidt of Blomkest and Dawn (and John Friedl) Gast of Willmar; three granddaughters: Kaylee, Kourtney, and Kendra.  Also surviving are her siblings: Bob (and Faye) Lalim of Granite Falls; Elmer (and Rochelle) Lalim of Richfield; Joyce Mueller of Granite Falls; Linda Turnquist of LaCrescent; Lyle (and Connie) Lalim of Little Falls; Dale (and Diane) Lalim of Maynard; Mark (and Kathy) Lalim of Clara City; sister-in-law, Donna Mae Lalim of Grove City and brother-in-law, Thomas Eischens of Willmar.

She was preceded in death by her parents, and siblings: Clara Kvendru, Ruby Nicolai, Bennie Lalim, Alvin Lalim, Kenneth Lalim, Mae Anderson and Darlene Eischens.

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