Ted Kobs - Nov 21, 2022 Theodore Kobs
Teacher, musician, and father, Ted Kobs passed away on November 21, 2022 of Lewy body syndrome. Ted grew up in Northeast Minneapolis and attended St. John's Lutheran Church and Edison High School. He went to college and earned his Ph. D at the University of Minnesota where he was a proud member of the marching band. Ted was smart, kind, generous, and funny, mostly on purpose. His first teaching job was in Edina where he was one of two teachers in the final years of the historic Cahill School. He spent his entire teaching career at Edina public schools, teaching music at Wooddale and then third grade at Cornelia. He is remembered by many as a lifelong advocate for continuing education. When he retired, Ted built a piano tuning business and served clients all over the Twin Cities. Ted drove a taxi, painted classrooms in the summer, and directed church choirs. With teacher friends Jim Berger, Howard Busse, and Roger Peterson, he played at over 50 area golf courses. Ted loved round dancing with Carmen, going to UM football games, and playing clarinet in the UM Alumni and Synod Senior Band. Students and acquaintances remembered Ted's waxed mustache and classic polyester clothes. Ted did not invent the leisure suit, but he quietly kept the style alive to the end. He was the first in his family to attend college and the last survivor of his generation. He was 89. Ted was preceded in death by his daughter, April, and his first wife, Sandra. He is survived by his beloved wife Carmen, his children, Katherine, Steve, and Larry, and countless others who are better for knowing him. |
 |
John A Madson Nov 12, 1920 - Sep 23, 2019 Madson, John Andrew, 98, passed from this world on Monday, September 23, 2019. John was passionate about his music, an architect and World War II veteran combat fighter pilot. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife of 66 years, Joyce. John is survived by five of his six children, Brian (Deborah), Paul, Tom (Barbara), John (Nancy) and Tracy Williams (Mark). He is preceded in death by his son David, (Terry Parker Madson) who passed away two days before John, on Saturday, September 21, 2019. John was blessed with twelve grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, and numerous extended family members from Michigan to California.
John was born on Nov. 12, 1920 to Clara (Culp) and Henry Madson in Mankato, Minnesota, the youngest of four children. His passion for music and interest in architecture began in his childhood, growing up in Red Wing, Minnesota. Before leaving to attend the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities, he had already formed a Big Band and could be found catching Benny Goodman and his orchestra perform at the Orpheum Theater in Minneapolis. After signing up in February 1942 for the Army Air Corp Aviation Cadet Training program to be a pilot, and waiting for entry in the Army, John worked at the Lockheed plant in Burbank, California. There he continued playing saxophone and clarinet, and acted in local theater productions.
After basic training and flight training were completed state-side, John shipped out to Stone, England where he joined the 353rd Fighter Group. He flew more than 50 combat missions, including bomber escorts, over France and Germany in a P-51 Mustang. 70 years later, in 2015, he climbed into a similar P-51 with four of his sons watching, as the sole returning pilot to attend the 70th reunion of the 353rd in Colchester, England. After the war, John flew F-80s and C-119s in the Air Force Reserves from Wold Chamberlain Field in the Twin Cities until 1959.
John’s passion for music was equally stratospheric, starting by playing alto and tenor saxophone with several Big Bands in the Twin Cities, before landing a steady gig with Cecil Golly And His Orchestra at the Nicollet Hotel’s “Minnesota Room,” backing such national music acts as Liberace and Rudy Vallee. He also played well-known Twin Cities ballrooms such as the Marigold and the Prom backing Jules Herman and Victor Borge. John sang tenor for more than 20 years with Apollo Club. He toured with the Minneapolis-based men’s chorus internationally including to the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958. John also led the choir at his church, Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church for 32 years.
John’s interest in architecture began early when, as a 7th grader in Red Wing, he pulled out copies of “Architectural Record” at the local library and was mesmerized by their drawings and plans. He earned his architecture degree from the University of Minnesota in 1950, joining the Perry Crosier firm, and later became a partner in Patch Erickson Madson Hanson. John’s design specialty became schools, hospitals and nursing homes, and later court houses, jails and banks. He combined his love of architecture with flying, piloting his own plane to clients in far-flung towns in northern Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.As retirement from his architecture career approached John began to spend many winters with his wife Joyce at their winter home in Sun City West, Arizona, enjoying rounds golf, founding and directing the Sun City West Concert Band, playing in several other bands and, not surprisingly, leading a local church choir.John was a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Delta Tau Delta fraternity (Beta Eta chapter), a life member of the Twin Cities Musicians’ Union and Lake of the Isles Lutheran Church in Minneapolis, and the El Zaribah Shrine, Phoenix, Arizona. |
 |
Kathleen Zimmerschied May 9, 1955 - Sep 30, 2018 Kathleen A., age 63, of Plymouth. Passed away unexpectedly on September 30, 2018. Preceded by father, Philip and niece, Jessica. Survived by husband, Michael Perrault; son, Curtis; mother, Lois; sister, Bonnie (Lyn) Bartels; brothers, Wayne and Dean; and many nieces and nephews. |
 |
Robert Doan Nov 29, 1926 - Jul 11, 2017 Dr. Robert Doan was born and raised in Duluth and graduated from the Hill School in Pottstown, PA in 1944. After service in the Navy, he completed both his undergraduate and medical education at the University of Minnesota, followed by internship at Cleveland City Hospital and residency in internal medicine at Minneapolis General Hospital. He founded Wayzata Internal Medicine in 1956, as a single practitioner with one nurse, and grew the practice, now part of the Park Nicollet System, until his first retirement in 1999. During this time he served for one year as Chief of Staff at Methodist Hospital, and was named the Earl G. Young Physician of Excellence from Methodist in 1993. Dr. Doan was a lifelong mentor to numerous medical residents and nurse practitioners, taking pride in guiding them as the consummate teacher. He continued to practice until his second retirement in 2016, shortly before his 90th birthday. During this second phase of his career he was the physician for nursing home patients and served as medical director at Hillcrest Nursing Home. Though the care of patients dominated his professional life, he devoted his free time to family, church, and hobbies. These activities included yearly car camping trips with his five children and spending weekends at the family cabin. As a member of Wayzata Community Church for over 60 years he was active in church leadership and chancel choir. He was a member of the Wayzata Rotary Club for nearly twenty years, and his family hosted numerous Rotary Exchange students during those years. An Eagle Scout, he remained active in scouting and served as Scoutmaster of Wayzata Troop 283 in 1972-1973. He volunteered as the bench doctor for Wayzata High School football team, and for this service earned Trojan of the Year in 1979. Music was important throughout his life, and he played the bass clarinet in the Plymouth Concert Band, the Senior Synod Band, and small woodwind ensembles. He was featured as "A True Music Talent" in the Plymouth Community magazine in May 2017. Dr. Doan is survived by his wife of 65 years, Pat Doan, his five children and 10 grandchildren. |
 |
