Our beloved Mother, Grandmother, and Great Grandmother, Donna Lou VanSickle Keirnes (91) passed away on November 27, 2024 in the home of her daughter, Lana Messinger, in St. Anthony, Idaho.

Donna was born in March 1933 to Don Lloyd VanSickle and Alta Walker in American Falls, Idaho. Donna had a younger sister, Nellie Beth. Her parents were divorced and her mother married Ray Bucholz in 1938 and another sister, Clara Raie, joined their new family. Ray worked construction and the family moved to various job sites throughout Nevada, southern Idaho, and California.

Ray moved his family to Elko, Nevada when Donna started high school. She worked several different jobs in high school including at a movie theater and cleaning rooms in a motel. It was there that she met and married Dee Keirnes in August 1949. The couple had a daughter, Lana Dee, who was born in September 1950. The family moved to Salmon in 1950 where a son, Gale Eugene "Pace" was born in June of 1952. Donna taught herself to sew on her MIL's treadle sewing machine. She made her own dresses, matching clothes for the kids, and her sister, Clara's wedding dress. She learned to bake bread and make sourdough pancakes on a wood burning stove. She also learned how to grow a garden and can produce, milk a cow and make butter from the cream.

In 1954 the family moved to Cobalt, Idaho. Donna was active as a Room Mother at Lana's first and second grade classes. She was also a Brownie Scout leader. She enjoyed being a member of a bowling league. She made homemade donuts and costumes for Halloween. She taught her children how to work and have fun doing it together.

In 1957 the family moved to Lakeview, Oregon for Dee's work and in 1959 they moved again. This time to Utah where Donna went to Cosmetology School. After she graduated and went to work in a beauty shop, Dee went to Barber School. When he graduated in 1963 the family moved back to Salmon, Idaho where Dee went to work with his Dad in Rex's Barber Shop and Donna worked at Ikey's Beauty Shop. Dee and Donna loved to dance together. It has been said that people came to the Elk's Hall dances to watch them. They also enjoyed camping and steelhead fishing down the river with two of their grandchildren. They gathered firewood for the fireplace, built rooms onto their home, and raised horses. While Dee continued with barbering Donna worked in a Tax Accounting Office and for the County Tax Collector at the Courthouse. In 1970 Donna joined the Beta Sigma Phi sorority where she made lifelong friends. She learned oil painting and made beautiful quilts for family and friends.

After Dee and Donna divorced in 1987 she worked at Havmann Hardware, and then the Sacajawea Center where she enjoyed her co-workers and meeting people from all around the world. She also took care of Nellie Means at Nellie's home and then in the Care Center. Donna was preceded in death by her parents, both of her sisters, her son Gale "Pace" Keirnes, and her son-in-law David Messinger. She is survived by her daughter, Lana Messinger, six grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren.

Funeral Services were held in St. Anthony, Idaho on November 30, 2024. Services will also be held in Salmon, Idaho on December 3, 2024 at the Salmon LDS Stake Center, 400 S. Daisy. Viewing at 11am and Services at 12pm. Burial will be in the Salmon Cemetery under the direction of Bert Flamm Mortuary.

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