Donald L. Anderson

Donald (Don) Lee Anderson was a strong, generous, and deeply selfless man who brought inner fortitude and intellectual power to solve any problem his friends and loved ones encountered.

He survived the Tet Offensive, manning the company machine gun in the courtyard of the French villa where his military intelligence unit was stationed as the Viet Cong poured across the Mekong Bridge and down the road to retrieve their weapons from Trojan horse hollowed-out logs on trucks that for days had been lining up at the local sawmill.

He survived two grueling years of cancer treatments: Because of his oncologist Dr. Paul Hampel’s advocacy, he received CAR-T Cell Therapy and lived cancer-free for 17 months. During the month-long CAR-T neurological checkup, he loved explaining the sentence he chose to write each day to providers too young to remember Alice’s Restaurant: “I don't want a pickle, just wanna ride on my motorcycle.”

But he could not survive the tiny fawn that darted in front of his KTM motorcycle on August 16, 2026. He was airlifted to La Crosse Gundersen where he died peacefully on August 18, 2026, accompanied by his wife, Jane; stepchildren Christy, Michael, and Tim; his brother Steve and wife Joey; and his caring nurses Kelli and Dan.

Don was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota on September 30, 1946, the oldest son of Omer and Harriet (Hintz) Anderson. He grew up helping his Grandpa Hintz load up and show prize-winning chickens and geese at county and state fairs. Don loved riding motorized vehicles of all kinds, including Grandpa Anderson’s John Deere tractor that he drove to cultivate corn once he was big enough to reach the pedals, his own John Deere lawn tractors (he had four), a 1964 Vespa scooter purchased in a Washington, DC, police auction that he rode back to Albert Lea before his deployment to Viet Nam, numerous trials bikes, and his final love, the KTM Duke.

After his discharge from the army, Don attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and finished his accounting degree at Winona State University. For many years he was the Chief Financial Officer at RPT, supervising the computerization of all company functions at the Winona plant and the new factory in Beaune, France. Nights were often punctuated with 2 AM calls from France to help solve a computer problem so they could start their workday. Weekends were often filled with ice racing in the winter and Upper Midwest Trials Association meets in the summer. Many of the younger riders today, including his nephew Tyler, remember Don as a mentor and role model who “was a clear example of how to conduct yourself in life with integrity.”

Don and Jane met in 1989 because years earlier, when Don and his brother Steve were riding their Bultaco motorcycles in Wiscoy Valley, they noticed another Bultaco parked outside a barn and stopped to talk with its owner, Jane’s brother Mike. In the years that followed, Don was a steady presence at family celebrations, serving as host, cook and mechanic for broken bikes, cars, lawnmowers, and anything else that needed fixing. Though he claimed he was not a carpenter, after retiring in 2003 he built Jane a beautiful chemical-free house. After CAR-T treatment, his first self-designed rehab project was a pentagonal Unicorn playhouse with an icosahedron roof for great-grandchildren Alden and Kaia.

Don found his greatest happiness in doing things for the people he loved, making and fixing things, and riding the back roads and hills of Southeastern Minnesota. He will be remembered for his integrity, generosity, sardonic humor, and devotion to family and friends.

Don was preceded in death by his parents, Omer and Harriet Anderson; Jane’s parents, Fred and Theresa Malin; brothers-in-law Richard “Dick” Malin and Robert “Bob” Malin; sister-in-law Edith Ratajczyk; nephew David Ratajczyk; and grandson Connor Flynn.

Those left to cherish Don's memory include his wife Jane; his step-children Christy (Brad) Ronneberg, Mike Flynn and Tim Flynn; his grandchildren Jessica (Kirsten) Anderson, Andrew Denzer and Luke Bellock; his great-grandchildren Alden and Kaia; his brothers Loney and Steve (Joey) Anderson; his brothers-in-law Fred (Eva) Malin, Martin (Julia) Malin, Tom Malin, Michael (Patty Hartman) Malin, and Steve (Pam Jonsgaard) Malin; his nieces and nephews Heather (Chris) Thofson, Rod (Elizabeth Larsen) Anderson, Renea (Stephan) Votruba, Kevin Ratajczyk, Jodi (Rod) Stormoen, Joel (Breanna) Malin, and Tyler (Rachael) Malin and their little son Teddy.

Visitation will be held at the Watkowski-Mulyck Funeral Home, 376 E. Sarnia St., Winona, on Saturday, August 29, 2026, from 1 PM until a time of remembrance at 2:30 PM.

Burial will be at Oakland Cemetery in Minnesota City, where the American Legion Leon J. Wetzel Post 9 of Winona will provide military honors.

Online condolences or memories may be left for Don’s family at www.watkowski-mulyck.com.