Donna Jean Rio
4/8/1927 to 3/24/2024
Donna Jean went out of this world the same way she came in…. with style. Born in Walhalla, ND, with a tough Viking heritage, her childhood was lovely, spent without electricity or running water. When she was 14, her father, Jack Creiman, died of pneumonia, back before penicillin was available to the masses. Her mother, Anna Odegaard, promptly went to school and then worked as a teacher, instilling the need for education into all of her children. It made Donna more than game to go stay with an aunt in Fargo just to attend high school. There were big dreams of a life of sophistication in Minneapolis with her Mayville College Teaching degree in Math. After all, she’d been born a true beauty and had even won a few beauty pageants along the way. Then she met another Norwegian…. Ken Rio. He was fresh out of the Marines and WWII, working on a biology degree. And so, she went to work while he went to school, and they eventually landed in Grand Forks where they stayed married until death do us part almost 70 years later. There were three kids, a girl and then two boys, and not a sports game, musical, play, dance recital, concert, or piano show was missed. This chore was shared by her husband but it was a well-known secret that Donna would go to the dress rehearsals and time the relevant presentations so that he only had to sit through his particular offspring’s performance.
Donna really shined at entertaining with her impeccable home décor and legendary humor. She once held a luncheon in 1980 where she invited only people named Donna. It was a resounding success and the laughter never stopped as people slowly caught on. The event made it into a chapter of Marilyn Hagerty’s book “Echoes”. (Marilyn was the journalist from The Grand Forks Herald who’s review of the town’s new Olive Garden Restaurant went viral in 2012)
Donna accepted the cultural norms of her day and went by her husband’s name for years but there was always a seam of independence lurking underneath. She fought fiercely for her children’s right to live the lives they desired, even when it didn’t necessarily match up to what she had imagined for them. When she was finally able to have her own checking account, things became much clearer and that independent streak took to the forefront. This carried her through the far-too-early deaths of two sons, Tim and then Scott. In her eighties, she finally decided to give horseback riding a try and found out that it could be really fun. Or at least the fantastic Christmas card photos made it all worthwhile.
Her husband, Ken, died just before the Covid pandemic. She then surrendered to the necessity of leaving her “real” home in North Dakota, and moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming to be with her daughter, Joni. The daughter who had made extremely different choices in life by choosing the Cowgirl Tough path, with a side of Lumberjack. Not to be daunted, Donna brought her own certain grace and vivaciousness to Cheyenne and never stopped believing that she could bring a little class to her only daughter’s wardrobe.
And what fun, now that she was her own woman without a man making her decisions. There were sea cruises, and parties, lunches out, lots of costume jewelry, and epic trips to Walmart for anything she wanted! She left behind a lifetime supply of blush, moisturizers, vitamins, and plug-in air fresheners.
Unfortunately, the indignities of old age are legion. After a lifetime of fooling everyone about her age, her age came to meet her. Just two weeks shy of 97, she entered hospice on a Saturday and died on Sunday. She’d won that competition with her usual determination.
Donna’s startling wit, elegant fashion sense, unfailing parental support, and ability to drive her only beloved daughter crazy will be deeply missed.
