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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
To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Deborah Helene Clasen, please visit our floral store.