Dawn Louise Morehouse, 63

Published 10:35 am Friday, January 6, 2017

Dawn Louise Morehouse, 63

Dawn Louise Morehouse, 63, a longtime resident of Austin, Minnesota, died Jan. 4, 2017, at Our House Memory Care after a long and progressive battle with frontal temporal dementia.

Dawn was born July 7, 1953, at St. Olaf Hospital in Austin to Eugene and Helen (Lee) Anderson, she grew up in Brownsdale, Minnesota and graduated from Hayfield High School in 1971. She worked at Sterling State Bank as a teller. On Jan. 17, 1976, she married Tom Morehouse in Austin. Dawn stayed home to raise their three children until all of them were in school full time. She then attended Riverland Community College, which prepared her for positions with Gopher Distributing, Mower County Council for Handicapped and Nelson Family Dental, where she retired in 2009 after receiving her diagnosis.

Once retired, Dawn and Tom spent winters in Mesa, Arizona, until her progression got to where it was hard for her to travel. Dawn never tried to hide the fact that she had dementia — she wanted people to know and didn’t want them to treat her any differently. While in Mesa, Dawn participated in a couple’s golf league, played water volleyball, spent her afternoons in the pool, enjoyed rides in the desert and mountains and even skydived a few times. Dawn loved sports and enjoyed playing tennis, racquetball and golf.

Dementia took a lot from Dawn – but it wasn’t able to take the love she had for her family.

She is survived by her husband, Tom; sons, Joshua and Jonas (Michelle), both of Austin; daughter, Jessica (Jacob) Knox of Minneapolis; eight grandchildren, Hunter, Kadence, Savanna, Landen, Nevaeh, Gavin, Calvin and Hannah; and her brother, Steven Anderson of Austin.

Dawn was preceded in death by her father, Eugene Anderson, mother, Helen (Lee) Planz and stepfather, Hugo Planz.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 9, at Clasen-Jordan Mortuary with the Rev. David Lieder officiating. Visitation will be at Clasen-Jordan Mortuary from 3 to 5 p.m. on Sunday and for one hour before the service on Monday morning.

Memorials may be directed to the Alzheimer’s Association.