Navy Veteran Calls Wellhaven Home
Donald and Lee Matzek are “River Falls people.” Donald grew up on a farm outside the city. Lee was born in River Falls, Wisconsin and left during high school, but returned to attend college.
The couple has been married for 73 years and has raised five children together in River Falls. For the past three years, they have resided at Wellhaven Senior Living in River Falls.
“This is our home,” Donald said. “We love to play cards, play Rummikub, and attend social events.”
After high school, Donald worked on the family farm. He was able to defer joining the military to farm until his father chose to sell it. Donald then enlisted in the United States Navy in 1945 during World War II.
He attended basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Station in northern Illinois and was stationed subsequently at two bases in California before boarding the USS LST-999 ship and traveling to the South Pacific.
Following a little more than a year in the United States Navy and the end of the war, Donald returned home. While looking for work, he found a job at a men’s clothing store in River Falls, where he continued to work until he purchased the store in 1973, and renamed it Don’s Clothing. With Lee’s help, the couple managed the store for the next 13 years.
Donald has been an active member of the American Legion in River Falls for several years. He is one of only 80 veterans residing currently in a TLHA care community. In our 120th year of caring for souls, we are honoring both our veteran residents and team members. Our history begins with one family’s loss during the Civil War. 15-year-old Ernst Boessling from Belle Plaine volunteered to serve with the Minnesota troops and died in September of 1863 at Vicksburg, Mississippi in service to his country.
His mother, Sophie, had saved the government death benefits she received all the years after Ernst died. Wanting to provide a home for others like herself, she donated the money and her family’s farmland to build das Alten und Waisenheim—the Aged and Orphans’ Home. Now more than a century later, Sophie’s gift continues to benefit countless lives.
TLHA has active senior living, assisted living and memory care communities in Belle Plaine, Minnesota and River Falls, Fountain City, and Watertown, Wisconsin. Looking for a place to call home? Visit www.tlha.org/communities.