Deborah H Clasen, age 73, of Duluth, Minnesota, passed away peacefully in St. Luke's Hospital on April 10, 2022.

Deborah Helene Cimperman (Deb) was born in Virginia, Minnesota to William and Frances Jagunich Cimperman. During her upbringing in northern Minnesota, she attended Marquette Parochial School and was a 1966 graduate of Virginia Roosevelt High School. Deb attained her Nursing Degree from the College of St Scholastica in June 1970, followed by her Master of Arts in Health and Human Services in 1987 at St. Mary's University in Minnesota.

On November 7, 1970, Debra married her high school flame and soulmate, Steven Allyn Clasen. Deb and Steve resided in the Duluth area and proudly raised two sons, Cory Allyn and Jeremy Aaron. The two of them have shared a full life by raising a family, enjoying their grandchildren, entertaining friends, loving their pets, nurturing beautiful flower gardens, being family caretakers, and traveling to Hawaii, the Caribbean and Mazatlan, Mexico.

Deb had a 42 year career in health and human services fields that spanned acute care, ambulatory care, home health care, long term care and public service. In the 1970's, Deb changed jobs three times, going from shift work to nursing administration. Deb began her nursing career at St. Mary's Hospital in Duluth on the urology floor. She went on to work as a St. Louis County Public Health Nurse and assisted in setting up Senior Centers in the area. In 1979, she was hired by St. Luke's Hospital to develop the first hospital based home health care program in the region. This launched her career as a leader who thrived on innovation, organization and coordination of new programs. In addition to the Home Health Care Program, she was instrumental in the launching of St. Luke's Hospital's first helicopter flight program, and outreach programs for Occupational Medicine, Urgent Care and Specialty Clinic Services. In 1987 Deb was the first woman recognized by the Duluth Jaycee's to receive the "Boss of the Year" award. Deb also had a successful and productive career at St. Francis in the Park in Superior, Wisconsin as the Director of Nursing where she impressed state auditors with her coordination of a flawless licensure audit. She retired her career with the prestigious honor as Deputy Director for the Northwest Region of Wisconsin in Health and Human Services and the Health Officer of Douglas County.

Deb's passion for organization and historical documentation also pervaded to her hobbies at home. She followed the footsteps of her mother with detailed preservation of family information. She created over 100 memory books and wrote detailed genealogy records of her family's history or helped other's with their history. She had a unique skill to discover and organize information then capture genuine accounts of each family member's personal passion and traits. Deb was active in her sons scouting and sporting activities, loved to cook ethnic foods, bake her mother's recipes, make Cathedral Window coverlets, sew, knit, Diamond Dotz, garden, read, and travel to tropical areas. She enjoyed people and nature, particularly the birds, squirrels and chipmunks that trustingly came to her feeders; as well as the deer, bear and fox that would frequent their yard. Her love for pets was abundant, most recently enjoyed by the Clasen cat, Tigger. She was active in volunteerism and served on the Maple Ridge Townhome Association Board. Deb's interest and passion in nursing came naturally. Deb was a caregiver for her father in her young adult years. Later, she and Steve were caregivers for her mother and her mother's twin sister; and also Steve's mother. Her love for her family was a continuous flow of light that ran deep through her heart. In addition to her two sons, she was proudly engaged in the lives of her six grandchildren whom she adored.

In short, Deb loved life. And she loved to hear and learn about the lives of others. She was genuinely interested in you as a person and was committed to helping others attain success in their career and/or life goals.

Deb was preceded in death by her mother and father (Frances and William Cimperman); aunt; (Helen Viezbicke), and brother (Eugene). She is survived by her husband, Steve, of Duluth; son Cory (Renee) Clasen of Fargo, ND; Jeremy (Sue) Clasen of Apple Valley, MN; grandchildren Calvin, Taylor, Danica, Trevor, Kaelyn, Emma Grace; brother William (Mary) Cimperman of Maple Grove; brother Ron (Judy) Cimperman of Virginia, MN; sister-in-law Ann (Eugene) Cimperman of Virginia; many nieces, nephews, cousins, neighbors, and friends.

The family would like to thank the St. Luke's Hospital Oncology and Hospice Department for their loving and tender care of Deb through her ongoing battle. There will be a memorial service on Saturday April 30, 2022 at 11 a.m. with a visitation one hour prior at Sunrise Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers donations etc. memorial donations may be made to: St. Luke's Foundation – Cancer or Hospice Program- https://www.slhduluth.com/st-lukes-foundation/

St. Jude's- https://www.stjude.org

American Cancer Society- https://www.cancer.org

Animal Allies- https://www.animalallies.net