Donna Granroth

They raised her with her younger sister Jeanette on a farm in nearby Traprock Valley, and they later moved to a home in Centennial, just north of Calumet.

Donna graduated from Calumet High School in 1965. She attended two years at Suomi College and then transferred to finish her bachelor’s degree, majoring in English education with a minor in art, at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

She taught briefly at Dollar Bay schools, and was then married to Ronald Granroth in February of 1970. They moved to Naperville, Illinois, for a time while he worked at Bell Labs, but when she became pregnant with their first child, Eric, they moved back to the Copper Country to raise a family.

Eventually, they settled into their home on Paradise Road in Chassell Township, where Ronald and Donna raised their eight children.

When her husband, Ron, became disabled from a long-untreated case of Lyme’s Disease, Donna stood faithfully by his side for decades of illness until his death in 2017. She augmented their household income during this season by working as an in-home health aide.

Donna was a woman of Christian faith, believing in the forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ, and was a member of the First Apostolic Lutheran Church. As her health declined, she continued to listen to Sunday services through the church’s phone broadcast and was grateful for the ministrations of the church’s pastors and members who came to visit her in her final days.

Donna possessed a lifelong clarity of mind, artfulness for words, and love of plants and gardening, but her true legacy is as an example of profound, sacrificial, and nurturing love that she showed to the very end for her family.

Donna was preceded in death by her parents, Reuben and Edna Waara; her husband of 47 years, Ronald Granroth; and her granddaughter, Seraphina Granroth.

Donna is survived by her eight children, Eric (Jessica) Granroth of Camden-Wyoming, Delaware; Lisa Granroth of Hancock, Davin (Amy) Granroth of St. Charles, Michigan, Catherine (Sameer) Sudame of Washington Township, Ohio, Aaron (Krista) Granroth of Ironwood, Alan (Lucy) Granroth of Chassell, Benjamin Granroth of Chassell, and Peter (Beth) Granroth of Chassell; several grandchildren; and one sister, Jeanette (Gary) Miller of Marquette.

A funeral service for Donna will be held 1 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, at the First Apostolic Lutheran Church of Houghton with Pastor Mark Halonen to officiate. Burial will be in the Chassell Cemetery.

Friends may call on Tuesday, Oct 21, 2025, from 12 p.m. until time of services at the First Apostolic Lutheran Church of Houghton.

To view Donna’s obituary or to send condolences to the family please visit www.memorialchapel.net. 

The Memorial Chapel Funeral & Cremation Service – Chassell Chapel has been assisting the family with the arrangements.