Don Koehn | 1947 - 2021
Don Koehn was a fascinating, outgoing, and incredibly sensitive person loved by the congregants of St. Paul’s UCC. He was an only child who grew up in a suburb of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. When he was ready for college, he moved to the Twin Cities to attend the University of Minnesota.
Don loved to travel especially to Germany because of his German heritage. He enjoyed visiting the Christmas markets to purchase Christmas ornaments. And these ornaments, along with the beautiful 150-year old ornaments he inherited from his family, were hung on multiple Christmas trees each year.
Don was very fond of his Springer Spaniel dog named Bandit, who was his companion until Bandit died. Unable to live without a dog, Don adopted a ‘skinny dog’ named Frankie who needed a home. Frankie became Don’s trusted friend until Don’s death.
St. Paul’s UCC was Don’s family. When it came to his beloved church, Don was task-oriented. He started the cookie basket program which entailed assembling and delivering cookies to home-bound members of our congregation. This important outreach activity remains a tradition in our church today.
Don didn’t miss a chance to recruit a new member. When David Cashman visited our church for the first time, Don made a point to sit next to him, “chatted him up” as David said, and insisted he stay for coffee hour. The rest is history.
Communion was an important part of worship to Don, and he was terrific at recruiting people as servers. If you attended one of the new member breakfasts, he wouldn’t let you leave the room until you had signed up to help serve communion. In addition, Don was an amazing liturgist whose readings were dramatic and memorable particularly those on Good Friday.
Professionally, Don was an accountant who was generous to friends and others in various ways although he lived his life simply and frugally. For example, he didn’t feel he had to replace something as long as it worked and was useful. This included his beloved immaculate 18-year old Chevrolet Impala with 40,000 miles on it.
Don loved his church and made a generous gift in his estate plan to St. Paul’s UCC. Because of his thoughtful gift, his love for his church and church family continue beyond his lifetime.
Please join us on April 30 following worship in the Fireside Room to learn more about legacy giving from Jack Fistler, Director of Legacy Giving at Hennepin Avenue UMC. Jack will be available to answer your questions about wills, types of planned gifts, and steps to take to include a legacy gift in your estate plans. Everyone is welcome!
Legacy Giving – Our Hope for Years to Come
We thank the following members for including St. Paul’s United Church of Christ in their legacy giving plans.
Anonymous (1)
Julie Brown and Jones Adkins
Mary Carbello
David Cashman
Robert and Rebecca Galkiewicz
Charlotte Heinze
Monte and Mary Johnson
Eric and Candy Kehle
Curtis Loewe*
Craig Miller
Marilyn Miller and Diana Carlson
Donna Olson and Tracie Olson Payne
Vonda Pearson
Robert and Barbara Sherman
Marty Watson
James and Gail Westby
*Deceased 4/4/2023