Obituary of Donald Charles Losure

Don Losure, 71, of St. Paul, died peacefully at his home on June 21, 2023—the summer solstice. An outdoor celebration of life will be held at 5 p.m. Sunday, July 16, at the Losure home, 1311 Osceola Ave., rain or shine.

Donald Charles Losure was born Dec. 2, 1951, in Sac City, Iowa, to Bob and Joyce (Popp) Losure. Don grew up on a small farm near Kamrar, Iowa, where he and his brothers played in the creek, tended a garden, took machines apart and put them back together again, tended hogs, and learned to use all kinds of tools. Don built fences and hog houses and did wiring and plumbing and carpentry. He read widely. After graduating from Northeast Hamilton High School in Blairsburg in 1970, he spent a year and a half in Finland where he learned to speak Finnish, a famously difficult language that he insisted was not hard at all. He studied anthropology at Iowa State and in New Mexico, where met his future wife, Mary Blankenhorn, on an archeological dig. They were married June 24, 1975.

The two of them farmed for nine years. During the farm crisis of the 1980s, they moved to Rochester, Minnesota, with their two sons, David and Michael. With his lifelong love of puzzles and problem solving, Don transformed himself into a Medicare reimbursement specialist working in the finance department of Saint Mary’s Hospital. In later years, he taught himself to program computers and became an IT specialist in Saint Paul. With Mary, he travelled to Mexico and South America on reporting trips, and walked in France, England, and Scotland.

In retirement, Don completed a fantasy novel complete with magic portals, star travel, New Mexico-like mesas, and an assortment of dragons reminiscent of the wily, field-ranging pigs of his childhood. He lived seven courageous months after being diagnosed with a brain tumor in November of 2022.

A loving husband, father, and grandfather, he is survived by his wife, Mary; his sons, Dave and his wife, Heidi, and Michael and his wife, Julie; his grandchildren, Sofia, Erik, Eleanor, and Miriam; and two brothers, Dave and his wife, Mary, and Walt and his wife, Karen.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Our Lady of Peace Hospice of Saint Paul.