Colleen Sue Haasl

Colleen Haasl of Pine City, formerly of Forest Lake, passed away Tuesday, August 6, 2019 at Lakeside Health & Rehab in Pine City at the age of 70.

Colleen Sue was born March 5, 1949 to John and Lois (Bergman) Mac Donald in Virginia, Minnesota.

When she was about 10 years old, her dad bought her and her sister Donna their first horse and taught them how to ride.  She loved horses and eventually she was riding horses in competition as a member of the Iron Range Saddle Club.  Colleen graduated from Mt. Iron High School in 1967.

That summer she started classes at Hibbing Area Technical Institute to learn to be a Medical Lab Assistant and graduated in the summer of 1968.  Her first job was at the University of Minnesota Hospital in Minneapolis. She had met Dan Haasl, who was working in Minneapolis, during her term in Hibbing.  They were married on July 5, 1969 in Dan’s hometown of Babbitt.  They recently celebrated 50 years of marriage. Colleen and Dan lived in; Northfield for 14 years, Sioux Falls, South Dakota for 5 years, Forest Lake for 26 years and moved to Pine City in 2014. Colleen worked as a Medical Lab Assistant in each of those cities and very much enjoyed her job and helping people. Colleen loved the outdoors and nature. She loved to read, canoe, kayak, cross-country ski, hike (especially in the woods), snowshoe, swim, camping and travel. She and several friends from work formed the Lutsen Ladies Book Club while they were spending a weekend cross-country skiing near Lutsen. She was much invested in all of her friends and their activities wherever she lived. She was very active in Relay for Life and was involved in forming the Relay for Life Chapter in Forest Lake. Colleen loved tending her flower and vegetable gardens. When she was very young she planted some corn in her old sand box at her parents’ home. She was almost ready to harvest it when the neighbor’s donkey came and ate her corn. 

After moving to Pine City Colleen became a member of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church. She also joined the Pine City Garden Club.  Colleen also liked to sew, crochet, quilt and knit. She quilted table runners, place mats and napkins and crocheted dish cloths. Colleen and Dan liked traveling and once went to Cancun with friends Denny and Carol Horan. They loved Cancun so much that they bought a timeshare week there and went back often. Colleen also traveled with friend Ann Marie MacKay to Scotland to visit Ann Marie’s daughter Heather. Several years later she went to Alaska with some members of the book club. Colleen and her sister Donna liked to travel together to many different places of interest in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Colleen and Dan loved watching their sons playing their sports games. It must be said that Colleen lived life to the fullest.

Colleen is survived by her husband Daniel Haasl of Pine City; sons Ben (Kristen) Haasl of Forest Lake and Gavin (Emily) Haasl of Becker; grandsons Nicholas and Matthew Haasl; sister Donna (Eugene) Mannelin of Isanti; father-in-law Joseph Haasl of Babbitt; nieces Lindsey and Abby; many other relatives and friends.

She is preceded in death by her parents John and Lois Mac Donald and mother-in-law Marie Haasl.

Monsignor Aleksander Suchan will celebrate a Funeral Mass for Colleen: 10:30 AM Friday, August 23, 2019 at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Pine City with a time of visitation planned for one hour prior to the service at St. Anthony Common at the church in Pine City.

Memorials in Colleen’s memory may be directed to:  A Place for You, 220 3^rd Ave SE, Pine City, MN 55063  www.apfy.org

Funeral arrangements are entrusted to:  Funeral and Cremation Service of Pine City~Swanson Chapel
www.FuneralAndCremationService.com