Don K. Plerchee

Don Keath Plerchee, 74, died in his home on Pelican Lake-Orr on Sunday, Sept. 6, 2026, after a year’s long battle with cancer. There will be a private interment at a later date. Arrangements are with Mlaker Funeral Home of Cook.
Don was born in Cook on June 13, 1952. He graduated from John Oliver Secondary school in Vancouver, B.C. Upon graduation, he worked at Erie Mining Company and Pine Acres Resort. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served from November 1971 until November 1975 on the USS Durham and aircraft carrier Ticonderoga. He had multiple tours in Vietnam, including the historic recovery of the Apollo 17 astronaut mission to the Moon in December 1972, and the evacuation of refugees during the fall of Saigon. 
Don married Anne Kuakola on Nov. 12, 1975, and had two children, Jonn and Jase. He graduated in 1978 from Eveleth Vocational Technical Institute with a degree in carpentry. He worked at U.S. Steel MinnTac for the next few years. He then moved to Duluth, where he was a proud union carpenter for the next 30 years. He was a perfectionist in his craft. Upon retirement, he moved back to Orr, to the home he built to live in for his remaining years on his beloved Pelican Lake. 
Don is survived by his two sons, Jonn and Jase; sisters, Paula Shaffer (Ronald Shaffer) and Hollaye Plerchee (John Jacobson); and multiple nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his father and mother, Jonn and Carollyne Plerchee.