Yvonne Mary (Dirkswager) Linnemann

Mass of Christian Burial will be 10:30 a.m. on Friday, September 3, 2021 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in St. Joseph for Yvonne Mary (Dirkswager) Linnemann, age 90 of Edina and formerly of St. Cloud who passed away peacefully on Thursday, August 26, 2021 in Edina. Burial will take place at the parish cemetery.

Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Thursday and after 9:00 a.m. on Friday at the Daniel Funeral Home in St. Joseph.

Yvonne was born on July 30, 1931 in St Cloud, Minnesota to Edward and Alice Dirkswager (Donahue). She was raised and educated in St Cloud. Yvonne graduated from Cathedral High School and attended St Cloud Hospital School of Nursing before graduating from Minneapolis General Hospital School of Nursing in 1953. She was a nurse at St Andrew’s Hospital in Minneapolis for four years before leaving to raise her family.

Yvonne’s greatest joy was being a mother, grandmother and great grandmother. Her legacy and family of 36 spans three generations: five children, one son-in law, three daughters-in-law,14 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren. She embraced every moment, phone conversation, card or simple note. Being together as a family was when she was most happy. Despite living throughout the country, every family member traveled to Minnesota to visit with her in the last six months of her life.

From a small city in central Minnesota, Yvonne traveled the world with her family as the wife of an Army physician. She lived in Germany on two occasions for a total of seven years. Two of her five children were born in Germany. On the first move to Germany in 1958, Yvonne had to travel by herself with three children, ages 18 months to five years, on a 16-hour propeller flight. The family moved for a second time to Germany in 1965 on a Navy troop ship, The Good Ship Darby. It took 10 days to cross the Atlantic. While living overseas, Yvonne traveled throughout Europe and Scandinavia. The family returned from Europe in 1968 and lived in Philadelphia for 15 years. She was very active in the city’s theater and arts community. Yvonne moved home to Minnesota in 1983. She resumed her nursing career at Presbyterian Hospital in Philadelphia and Fairview Southdale Hospital in Edina for 15 years before retiring at the age of 70.

Yvonne was an accomplished artist. There are over 25 oil paintings prominently and proudly hanging in her home. Prints of all the paintings have been arranged in a book entitled, “The Art of Yvonne Dirkswager Linnemann”. She also had a portfolio of over 100 water colorings that she gave to her children and grandchildren at a recent family reunion.

Yvonne was an extraordinarily warm, kind and giving person. Everyone considered Yvonne to be an intimate friend. On more than a few occasions during her life she hosted a friend or extended family member who was going through a move, school or other life event and needed a place to live for few weeks and in some cases months. She never turned anyone away. When she moved to Vernon Terrace in Edina, she was the Meet and Greet Representative for her floor and helped new residents acclimate to life at Vernon Terrace.

Although Yvonne will be sorely missed by all who love her; her smile, warmth and twinkle in her eyes will live on forever. We are beyond blessed to have had her here as the matriarch of our family but will find peace knowing she is now joined with so many other family members who will greet her with open arms and rejoice that she is home.

Yvonne is survived by sons Tom and his wife Noreen, Chip and his wife Patty, Kurt, Nick and his wife Deborah, Daughter Kippy Bracke and her husband Warren, Brother Edward Dirkswager and his wife Dianne. Sister Susan Quispe and her husband Roy.