Donald (Don) LaGoo went to be with his wife and son Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015. He was a resident at the Good Samaritan Society-International Falls.
Donald was born Sept. 25, 1933, to Sylvester and Viola (McDougall) LaGoo.
He met his wife, Patricia (Moorman) LaGoo, at a young age and they were happily married for 56 years.
At age 17, Donald joined the United States Air Force and became a cook and baker while proudly serving his country for two and a half years as a staff sergeant.
Donald became an employee for MD&W Railway at the age of 20 and worked as a train engineer until he retired at the age of 56.
Donald raised his family in Ranier, Minn., where he was a lifetime resident with his wife and five children.
While growing up, Donald was known as the Ranier Rink caretaker, the Ranier barber who only charged 5 cents a haircut, and the Ranier dog catcher that never caught any dogs.
When he was not attending to his Ranier job duties, he would be on beautiful Rainy Lake enjoying quality family time with his children and grandchildren, where they would fish, water ski, go tubing on a toboggan, have bonfires and enjoy nature.
He enjoyed fishing of all kinds, camping in his houseboat, boating on his pontoon boat and ice fishing in his fish house during winter months.
He loved watching football and enjoyed having deck parties with his friends in the summertime at his home.
Donald was known for his caring and giving character. He was a humble man who was loved by many.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Patricia LaGoo; son, Benny; parents, Sylvester and Viola LaGoo; and sister, Grace LaGoo.
Donald is survived by his son, Donny LaGoo Jr. of Ranier; daughters, Tammy Hunter of Manitou, Ontario, Canada, Bonnie LaGoo of Detroit Lakes, Minn., and Carrie LaGoo of Ranier; brother, Pete LaGoo of Hawaii; sisters, Sally Jones of Webster, S.D., Nancy Vandermoon of Bloomington, Minn., Carol LaGoo of International Falls, and Mary Lou Larsen of Independence, Miss.; special granddaughter, Dawn Marie;12 grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren; numerous nieces, nephews, cousins; and his beloved dog, “Annie Rose.”
Per Don’s request, there will be no memorial service.
Burial services will be announced for this spring.
Memorial donations may be given to the local Veterans Society.
Condolences may be left at www.greenlarsen.com.
Arrangements are with Green-Larsen Mortuary Inc., International Falls.
Josie Mae Promersberger, 81, of Littlefork, Minn., passed away Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015, in Abilene, Texas.
Josie was born in Brainerd, Minn., to Iller Sr. and Josie Popejoy on Jan. 15, 1934.
She went to school at Littlefork.
She married Bernard Promersberger on June 13, 1952, in Littlefork.
She began working as a nurse at the Littlefork Hospital at age 15 and never stopped working. She worked at Promersberger’s Mill & Logging until she was employed at International Bildrite, Inc., as a purchasing agent.
She retired in 2007.
Josie enjoyed showing horses, picking morel mushrooms, searching for Indian artifacts, fishing and hunting, going to auction sales, playing cards, digging for antiques, learning how to use the computer, spending time with family and friends and traveling south in the winter.
Josie was involved in the Veterans of Foreign Wars Womens Auxiliary and a member of Littlefork Lutheran Church.
Josie was preceded in death by her husband, Bernard Promersberger; father and mother, Iller Sr. and Josie Popejoy; and brother, Ivan Popejoy.
Josie is survived by her children, Robert Promersberger (Suzzett), Dale Promersberger (Brenda), Marty Promersberger (Sherri) and Wendy Jo McCain (David); brother, Iller Popejoy Jr.; sisters, Zelah Imhof and Zetella Popejoy; 10 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
A memorial service will be conducted at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 7, at Littlefork Lutheran Church.
The family of Josie Promersberger wishes to extend our sincere thanks to Dr. Thomas and Teresa Headstream, Dr. Roberta Kalafut, Dr. David McCain, Abilene Regional Hospital and Reliant Rebab Center.
Online condolences may be submitted at www.HamilFamilyFuneralHome.com.
The Hamil Family Funeral Home, Abilene, is in charge of arrangements.
A legal question and answer line for seniors.
Dear Senior Legal Line:
I am 68 years old. My income is Social Security retirement benefits. I have a daughter, who is now an adult. When my daughter was born, I was ordered to pay child support, but I fell behind in the payments years ago. Child Support takes the monthly payments directly out of my Social Security check. I have now paid off all of the child support, but money is still coming out of my Social Security check. How can I stop this? — Signed, Roberto
Dear Roberto:
When you fall behind in your child support payments, you owe an “arrears” amount.
Because you were not making your child support payments, the child support office sent the court order to the Social Security Administration, telling them to garnish your Social Security benefits for the arrears.
Normally, Social Security is a protected income from debt collectors, but child support is a special kind of debt. The legislatures have decided that it is important for children to be supported by their parents, so they wrote laws allowing garnishment of normally protected income. Thus, as you know, Social Security is not protected from garnishment for child support. Child support arrears stay with you until you pay the arrears or you pass away.
Because you calculate that you have paid off the arrears, the first thing you should do is contact the child support office that handles your child support case. You need to speak with them and confirm that your child support obligation is actually done because you have paid all of the arrears.
When you speak to child support and they confirm you are done paying, you will need to ask them to send a Stop Order to the SSA. Because the SSA started taking the money out of your checks with a court order, they need to receive another order for them to stop the garnishment of your checks.
The child support office can send SSA a stop order, letting them know that you have fulfilled your child support obligation and to stop taking the monthly payments out of your checks. Once the stop order is received by SSA, the garnishment will stop.
Because SSA doesn’t stop automatically when the child support order has been fulfilled, there may have been payments garnished that are over and above the amount you owed. If that happens, any overages that the county received from SSA, should be refunded to you.
This column is written by the Senior Citizens’ Law Project. It is not meant to give complete answers to individual questions. If you are 60 years of age or older and live within the Minnesota Arrowhead Region, you may contact with questions for legal help by writing to: Senior Citizens’ Law Project, Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota, 302 Ordean Bldg., Duluth, MN 55802. Include a phone number and return address.
A memorial service for Donovan (Donny) Elmer Johnson, 63, of International Falls, who died Sunday, Feb. 1, 2015, was conducted at 2 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, at Green-Larsen Mortuary, International Falls.
Officiating was Pastoral Minister Pat Bjorum.
Arrangements were with Green-Larsen Mortuary Inc., International Falls.
