Gwendolyn Sweet Rasmussen was born on February 16, 1933, in Dallas, Texas, to Arthur and Lillie McWilliams, and passed away at age 90 on October 12, 2023, in Spirit Lake, Iowa. She died peacefully at home from natural causes with family by her side. Gwen’s husband of 60 years, Darwin Rasmussen, predeceased her on October 15, 2011.
While Gwen was still an infant, a tornado blew off the roof of her family’s Dallas home, so they moved out of Dallas to her grandparents’ summer cottage on Big Spirit Lake. From that chance beginning, the lake grew to become an integral part of Gwen’s life. Her family subsequently lived for several years in Lake Park, Iowa before settling in Graettinger, Iowa, where her father owned and operated a hardware store and her mother was a homemaker. As a child, she loved cooking and baking with her mother and grandmother and going fishing with her grandfather. With her Dutch boy haircut she was very much a tomboy, delighting in cleaning the fish she and her grandfather caught together and riding a boy’s bike that her father gave her because she wanted something more rugged.
Gwen attended school in Graettinger, graduating from high school in 1950. She had a very outgoing personality and was involved in so many activities her list of accomplishments filled a quarter page of her yearbook. Among her favorite activities were playing clarinet in the band and playing offense as a forward on the girl’s six-on-six basketball team. With her brown hair, brown eyes and dresses made by her mother, a talented seamstress, Gwen attracted the attention of a wavy-haired farm boy named Darwin Rasmussen. When a friend of Darwin’s bet him that he could not get a date with Gwen, Darwin took and won that bet.
Gwen started teachers college after high school and, once she saw how the college guys compared, married her high-school sweetheart, Darwin, in 1951. After marrying, they moved to a farm in the Graettinger area that had no running water. Eighteen-year old Gwen thought it would be like camping compared to living in town. However, Gwen found that she preferred more modern conveniences and, after Darwin returned from a two-year stint in the army, they moved to a farm with running water. In 1963, Gwen realized her dream of moving the family to her grandparents’ cottage on Big Spirit Lake, where she and Darwin lived for the rest of their lives. Gwen spent most of her over thirty-year career teaching fourth grade in Estherville. She was very popular with her students and the faculty alike. Her students appreciated her creative lesson plans that incorporated the events of the day to make learning relevant and fun. Students also liked that she listened to them and gave them a voice.
Gwen and Darwin were loving partners, pitching in to help and encourage each other whether they were raising children, supporting Gwen’s school teaching and Darwin’s farming, or having fun together. Their marriage produced four children, who were very close to their parents, as well as to each other. Gwen was a wonderful, loving mother, who showed her love and creativity in everything she did with and for her children. She transferred her love of the lake to her family, spending summers together fishing, swimming, sailing and water skiing. Everyone respected and enjoyed Gwen’s independent and indomitable spirit along with her sassy sense of humor. She was always having fun, whether riding her own motorcycle with Darwin and their friends, enjoying lake activities, or playing, and often winning, pool tournaments and card games.
Gwen is survived by her four children and their families: Diane Rasmussen of Spirit Lake; Mark Rasmussen and his wife, Linda, of Spirit Lake and their children, Willem and Sophia; Kirt Rasmussen and his wife, Jody Cockrell, of Lufkin, Texas; and Alan Rasmussen of Spirit Lake and his daughter, Shelby and her husband, Dylan, of Jackson, Minnesota and their children, Violet and a son expected in November. We cherish our memories of Gwen and the many ways she contributed to our lives.
P.S. Mom, Thanks to you and Dad for providing us a wonderful life. We really can’t think of a way it could have been any better. Congratulations on a life well-lived! Love, Diane, Mark, Kirt and Alan
A celebration of life is being planned for a date to be determined in the summer of 2024. Arrangements are under the direction of the Robinson Funeral Home in Spirit Lake. Online condolences may be left at www.spiritlakefuneralhome.com.
