Deanna Mae Ratzlaff

Mother, wife, sister, and friend, Deanna Mae (Wall) Ratzlaff, 79, passed away peacefully, Sunday, September 13, 2020, at the Good Samaritan Village in Mountain Lake, Minnesota. A celebration of her life will be held in spring 2021 at Bethel Mennonite Church in Mt. Lake. Arrangements are with the Sturm Funeral Home in Mtn. Lake, Minnesota. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.sturmfh.com. Deanna was born on August 22, 1941, in Newton, Kansas, to John A. and Elma (Klassen) Wall and was the oldest of three children. She attended elementary school at Mt. Lake; and she received her high school education at Sebeka, MN, when her father was hired to manage the local cooperative. Following her graduation from high school in 1959, she moved to Minneapolis, where she worked as a transaction processor at Midland National Bank. She married Eldean Ratzlaff on June 30, 1961, at the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church in Mt. Lake. Eldean was inducted into the U.S. Army shortly after their marriage and was stationed at Fort Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Deanna moved there to be with him during his military service and worked in the bookkeeping department at First National Bank of Anchorage. Following Eldean's discharge from the Army in 1963, they moved back to Mt. Lake, where they raised a family that included two sons, Wayne and Steve, and fostered another son, Jerry Zich. Deanna worked at Farmers State Bank in Mt. Lake for nearly 14 years, until 1978, when she became the office manager at Eventide Home in Mt. Lake, a position she held until her retirement in 2003. She was active in both her community and church, serving on the Mountain Lake City Council and as a deacon at Bethel Mennonite Church. She also sang in the church choir, volunteered with the Cottonwood County women's shelter, and assisted at the Care and Share Thrift Shop in Mt. Lake. During her retirement, she embraced the opportunity to travel and see the world. She and Eldean took numerous trips with family and friends, visiting the Caribbean, New Zealand, and several countries in Europe. She especially looked forward to seeing old friends and making new ones in South Padre, TX, during the last 15 winters. She was busy planning her next oceanic adventure with friends when she was diagnosed with metastatic gastric cancer in May 2020. Deanna is survived by her husband Eldean; sons Wayne (Noreen) of St. Paul, MN, and Steven of Fairbanks, AK; foster son Jerry Zich, of Jackson, MN; grandchildren Zoe and Kaya of Bozeman, MT; and sister Louise (Doug) Legere of Beach Park, IL. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Leroy Wall, and sister-in-law Helen Wall.