Rock Island, Ill. - LaDonna Breidfjord Backmeyer, 58, died Tuesday, January 23, 2001 at her home in Rock Island, Ill.
Services were
held at 11 a.m. on 
Friday, January 26,
at St. John's Lutheran Church in Rock Island. Burial was in
Chippiannock Cemetery in Rock Island with Wheelan Funeral Home of
Rock Island in charge of the arrangements.
LaDonna Breidfjord was born in 1942 in Minot N.D., the daughter of William and Amy (Severson) Breidfjord. The family resided in Upham, N.D. until moving to Thief River Falls where LaDonna attended grade school and high school.
She later moved to Long Beach, Calif., the Mesabi Iron Range, Mound, Cordova, Ill. and Rock Island, Ill. She graduated from Blackhawk College in Moline, Ill. She then attended Augustana College and received her B.A. degree from Western Illinois University.
She married William Louis Botta in 1959 and Stephen David Backmeyer in 1976.
She was an active volunteer, working for the Boy Scouts of America and Girl Scouts of America. During the 1980's, she was a board member of the American Scandinavian Association at Augustana College and a board member of the Augustana Historical Society.
LaDonna's main fields of study were English, Icelandic literature and genealogy. She taught genealogy and Icelandic travel and culture at Blackhawk College. She was the author of several published writings. LaDonna was a reading aide at Eugene Field School in Rock Island for three or four years. During the 1970's she had an antique business and rented a room in Mississippi Manor, an antique mall, in the 1990's.
After being diagnosed with a rare cancer, she became involved in research and several online cancer support groups. She also became a political activist for health care reform.
Survivors include her husband, Stephen; two sons, Michael (Dawn) Botta of Concord, N.C. and Kristjan Backmeyer of Rock Island, Ill.; a daughter, Michelle Botta (Charles) Ryder of Taylor Mill, Ky.; three grandchildren; one step grandchild; a sister Julie Peurasaari; a brother, Daniel Breidfjord; and many other relatives.
She was preceded in death by her parents and a brother, Paul Breidfjord. A00003B2000JA31