Donald E. Otterson, 82  of Brookings, longtime resident of Marshall, Minnesota, died Thursday, April 26, 2018, at the Brookings Health System hospital after a long struggle with diabetes and heart disease. 

Funeral services are at 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday, May 8, at St. Stephen Lutheran Church in Marshall with burial at the Marshall Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, May 7, at Hamilton Funeral Home in Marshall and one hour before the service on Tuesday at the church.

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 Donald E. Otterson was born March 27, 1936, in Winnebago, Minnesota, to Ormand H. and Vivian Gale (Peterson) Otterson. He was baptized and confirmed at the Methodist church in Winnebago and attended public schools there, graduating in 1954.

 He enrolled at then-Iowa State College in Ames with dreams of becoming a civil engineer and transferred to then-Mankato State College to pursue a developing interest in industrial education and coaching. Between higher education terms, he received an invitation to join the U.S. Army and served in a military intelligence unit in Germany from 1959 to 1961.

 About six weeks after his honorable discharge, he married Carlene L. Grewe on July 8, 1961, at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church of Moltke Township, near Gibbon, Minnesota. The two met in an industrial arts class at Mankato State, and Don proposed marriage from Germany. His father served as proxy, purchasing the ring from a local jeweler and delivering it on his behalf.

 Don finished his bachelor of science degree in 1965 and was hired as an industrial arts teacher and coach at Redwood Falls. The Ottersons moved to Marshall in 1968 where he taught industrial arts and served as head boys’ track and field coach, a B-squad football coach and later head boys’ cross country coach. He started the girls’ cross country program in 1975.

 While teaching in Marshall, Don completed a master of science degree from Mankato State in 1972. He later worked in sales, GED instruction and furniture repair. He enjoyed leading the Marshall Senior Woodworkers for nearly 30 years and playing cards, especially in recent years at the Adult Community Center.

 Don is survived by: son Bob (Lisa) of Brookings; daughter Jill (Karl) Maurer of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin; three grandsons; three granddaughters; a great-grandson he never met; sisters-in-law and their husbands, Diane (Dick) Isakson and Judy (Gary) Schafer, both of Gibbon; step-brother Gary (LaVonne) Claude of Lakeville; step-sister Diana (Stuart) Eickelberg of Lake City; and several cousins.

He was preceded in death by Carlene, his self-described one true love and wife of 55-plus years; his elder brother Bob and Carlene’s parents, Edwin and Irene Grewe of Gibbon.

 Arrangements are by the Hamilton Funeral Home in Marshall, Minnesota – 507-532-2933.

Guest book and tribute wall available online at www.hamiltonfh.com.