Deputy was a mix of firmness, compassion

Don Krippner, a deputy sheriff for 22 years, gave people a feeling of security, a colleague said.

By JOY POWELL, Star Tribune

Last update: October 23, 2009 - 9:09 PM

Don Krippner was taking his wife home to Hastings from the hospital after her surgery when he turned to her and said, "Honey, I don't feel so good." He called 911.

When police and an ambulance arrived, he found himself in the strange position of having to explain what was happening to him - and to her.

"He needed help, and he wanted to make sure I was taken care of," Phyllis Krippner said of the Oct. 8 sequence. "That's my hubby."

Don Krippner, a retired Dakota County sheriff's deputy who will be remembered in a memorial service today as a mixture of firmness and compassion, was taken that day to another hospital for his own surgery for a stroke but lapsed into a coma and never revived. He was 72.

"When he showed up, you instantly had the feeling you were going to be taken care of," said the sheriff's department chaplain, the Rev. Jim Bzoskie. "He had a very firm, deep, commanding voice. But he was also approachable, with a great sense of humor."

The ex-Marine and onetime security guard joined the sheriff's office in October 1977. He took on several assignments, including the jail and patrol duty, until he was promoted to Special Duty Deputy in September 1989. Then he worked in the civil division, delivering court papers and the like, until he retired in 1999.

"If you needed anything," said Chief Deputy Dave Bellows, "he was your guy. Very solid and dependable."

As a jailer, said his wife, "my husband had quite the reputation. Prisoners didn't like Donald very well. He was strict." His attitude was, 'You're in jail, you did something wrong. Don't expect me to feel sorry for you.'... He followed the rules and they didn't like it."

If he could be "tough as nails," though, she said, "he could be as wimpy as could be." She remembers his very different demeanor as he sat on a couch, talking to a young girl who had run away from home. "He was compassionate when he needed to be, and stern when he needed to be."

Off-duty, said Bzoskie, a friend and neighbor, Krippner adored eagles. "His whole house is full of them -- not real ones, but pictures of them. It's a gorgeous bird, and we have a lot of them in Hastings. He'd sit in a nice café and watch eagles soar over the river."

He was also a computer game fanatic, Bzoskie said. "He'd work on family pictures but mostly it was games - every time the latest and greatest came out, I'd help him install the upgrade. Through the years I'd always tease him, 'Don, you got enough money, go out and buy a new computer!' "

In addition to his wife, surviving family members include daughters Dawn Zeman, Lakeville; Dana LaCroix, Burnsville, and Donnah Sismundo, Las Vegas; one sister and one brother; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. The memorial service will be at 11 a.m. today, at the Cornerstone Bible Church, 735 E. 10th St., Hastings, with visitation one hour before the service.

Joy Powell • 952-882-9017 Staff writer David Peterson contributed to this story.

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