Donna Lee Knight

Donna Lee Knight (Vanden Berg) is the eldest of nine children and was born to Martha Mae Vanden Berg
(Boer) and the late Jacob L. Vanden Berg on March 13, 1950. She was raised in the Pipestone, Minnesota
area and attended both Pipestone Grade and High Schools, graduating in 1968. She went on to attend
the Financial Secretary Course at a local vocational school and graduated from the program in 1969.
Leaving home to search for work, she moved to Worthington, Minnesota. She met and married Mr. Clair
Henry Polmateer in 1970 and they moved to Ohio shortly after. Donna then worked for the
Montgomery Community Action Agency while Clair maintained a job as a die caster in Germantown,
Ohio. They were there for four years and were blessed with three children before returning to Clair’s
hometown, Hampton, Iowa, when Clair fell ill. After agreeing to separate, Donna moved to Clarion,
Iowa, where she worked as a nanny.
Donna met and eventually married Larry L. Muench on October 31, 1983 and had two children with him.
Due to circumstances within the home, all five children were removed from the home and Donna
divorced Larry.
Donna had to move on. She moved to Salina, Kansas, where she attended a rehabilitation center. She
planned for a future home at Gospel Ministries, Inc. At the mission, Donna found a home. While living at
the mission, she helped minister to the homeless and poor, and discovered that people are all the same.
In her new line of work, she was involved in nursing, home ministry, jail ministries to women and
hospital visitations. She worked alongside Reverend George A. Knight of Salina. On May 8, 1985, she
and Reverend George were united in marriage and had two children. For the next year and a half, Donna
continued to work her way up the ladder, where she was eventually named Executive Director of Gospel
Ministries. Reverend Knight went home to the Lord, in January 1990. Donna and her children left Kansas
and moved to Colorado.
Her family continued to move around from Colorado to Arkansas, to Hugoton, Kansas and then to
Okaloosa, Kansas. After the children were all grown, Donna returned home to where her mother lived in
Richfield, Minnesota. After four years there, Donna moved along with her mother and sister to Luverne,
Minnesota and in 2018, Donna moved to the Tuff Memorial Home in Hills, Minnesota, where she stayed
until her passing.
Donna is survived by her five daughters: Paulette Renee Polmateer of Wichita, Kansas, Martha Kay Faulk
and her husband Chuck, Sheila O’Dell of Kansas City Kansas, Angela Dawn Brucks, and Rebecca Lynn
Knight of Ozawkie Kansas; her two sons Chad Oliver Miller and his wife Jami, and George Atlanis Knight
and his wife Beth of Kansas City, Kansas; twenty grandchildren; her mother, Martha Vanden Berg; her
uncle Pete Boer and his family; her brothers Calvin and Janie Vanden Berg, Milton and Gwen Vanden Berg,
David and Dawn Vanden Berg, Mark Vanden Berg, and Phillip Vanden Berg; two sisters Judith Vanden Berg
and Norma and Elwin Brands; and many uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by
her father Jacob Vandenberg and her brother Kenneth Vanden Berg.
Donna will be interred at the Edgerton Hillside Cemetery. Memorials and contributions are requested to
be given to Tuff Memorial Home in Hills, Minnesota and the Gospel Ministry Inc. in Salina, Kansas.

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