Viola "Pat" Doan

Viola “Pat” Doan

(July 27, 1929 – August 3, 2022)

On August 3, 2022, Pat Doan died peacefully in Minnetonka. She is preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Robert “Bob” Doan. Her 65-year married life with Bob was filled with family, friends, travel, and service to the Wayzata community.

Pat was born Viola Mae Finseth in Devil’s Lake, North Dakota on July 27, 1929. After graduating from Devil’s Lake Central High School in 1947, she attended Concordia College of Moorhead and then graduated in 1951 from Saint Barnabas School of Nursing in Minneapolis. It was in nursing school where her nickname, Pat, was coined. She met Bob while working as a nurse, and they were married on June 18, 1952. Their early married days were spent raising five children, Nancy, Tom, Peter, Julie, and Kate, and establishing Bob’s medical practice in Wayzata.

Pat was a 65-year member of Wayzata Community Church. She was very active in the Women’s Fellowship program. She organized rummage during summers for the annual sale, tended the garden in the courtyard, and knitted hats for service members with a group of handcrafters. Other volunteer activities included being Girl Scout Leader, Cub Scouts Den Mother, and in the college resource center at Wayzata High School.

The Doan household played host to nine exchange students from countries such as Finland, Brazil, and Japan. Pat and Bob also loved to travel, and they participated in Elderhostel learning and hiking tours throughout the world. Pat also ventured to Europe multiple times, also on hiking tours, with a group of women from Wayzata.

Pat was an original “maker,” far earlier than anyone knew what that was. She put her vast amount of energy and spirit into numerous projects. She was a talented seamstress and knitter, an expert baker of Norwegian lefse and krumkake, and lead engineer for wood-working and garden projects at home and at the family Annandale cabin.

She will be greatly missed by her children, 10 grandchildren, and 5 great grandchildren.

A celebration of her life will be held at Wayzata Community Church, 125 Wayzata Blvd. E, at 11 AM on Monday, October 3, 2022. Family visitation at 10am, lunch to follow. Memorials preferred to Wayzata Community Church.