Velma “Viki” (Roth) Kimsal passed away peacefully on October 27, 2023, from multiple myeloma. Viki was born on March 10, 1943, in Dryden, Ontario. Her family lived in several Minnesota communities where her father served as a Lutheran pastor. Viki graduated from Gibbon (MN) high school in 1960 and went on to Valparaiso University majoring in Theology and graduating with a Bachelor of Arts. She worked as a deaconess in Long Island, New York, and married Ron Kimsal while there. They moved to Michigan to raise their two children. She did course work at University of Michigan and became a Licensed Social Worker. After a divorce, Viki moved back to Minnesota. In the early nineties, Viki went back to college at the same time as both of her children. She received a law degree from William Mitchell College of Law and passed the bar in 1993. She worked as a staff attorney for Dorsey & Whitney, specializing in Indian law and governance. She left Dorsey in 1996 to pursue her interests in ethical leadership. She served as a Program Officer for the Northwest Area Foundation and later as an instructor and program director at St. Mary’s University. She met her love, Kent, in 1993 and married in 1998. They thoroughly enjoyed tennis, traveling, volunteering, and socializing, always together. She really wanted to live to 100 but had to settle for 80. Viki (please don’t call her Velma) was always full of energy and ideas, always generous and always ready to jump in and lend a hand. She was feisty and fun and did most things fast. Her favorite time was family time and loved cooking a delicious meal and celebrating togetherness. She was dedicated to faith, wellness, and friends. Viki is preceded in death by her parents Erhart and Nelda Roth, and her son James Paul (JP). She is survived by her husband Kent Gustafson, daughter Jill (Craig) Sinclair, daughter-in-law Lora Horan- Kimsal, stepson Ross (Jen) Gustafson and stepdaughter Kara Johnson, grandsons Gus (Nicole Tesch) and Calvin Sinclair and Caden Horan- Kimsal, step grandchildren Julia and Jonah Gustafson, Kendall and Max Johnson, brothers Ed (Ruth) and Paul (Denise) Roth, sisters Meta Krueger, Lyn (Ron) Tausen, and Kathy Roth.
Class of 1993