Perpetua Ann McDonald

Perpetua “Pepper” Ann McDonald, age 76 of Oakdale, died Sunday, June 28, 2026 surrounded by her family. 

Her visitation will be held Friday, July 24th at 10:00 a.m. at Guardian Angels Catholic Church in Oakdale, MN, followed by her 11:00 a.m. funeral service and a luncheon in the church social hall. Interment will be in the church cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to the Ocular Melanoma Foundation and Friends of St. Paul College Scholarship.

Pepper was born on April 9, 1950 to Robert and Natalia (Imberi) Kappenman in Hillsview, SD. She was the older of two children and graduated from the Catholic high school, Roncalli, in Aberdeen in 1968. She attended South Dakota State University in Brookings, SD and her clinical rotations brought her to Chicago for one summer, the University of MN hospital and a Brookings nursing home for the remainder. One evening in 1970, while out with her nursing friends in the Twin Cities, she met and danced with the man who would become her husband. Pepper received her Bachelor of Science degree in Nursing in May, 1972. She began her career as an RN on a medical-surgical unit at St. Mary’s hospital.

She married Michael McDonald on August 12, 1972. Mike and Pepper bought a home and created their life in Oakdale. It was in 1981 that Pepper began teaching nursing assistants and LPNs at St. Paul Technical Vocational Institute (now St. Paul College). She completed an online Master of Science degree program in Nursing at Walden University in 2009 and then taught students training to be LPNs until she retired in 2017. Thereafter, she worked part-time for Visiting Angels Home Care as an RN case manager until 2019 and at St. Paul College doing test-outs for students until 2023. She taught catechism at Guardian Angels when her children were young. She was always an avid reader and gardener, and canned dozens of quarts of vegetables with and for her family. She enjoyed doing challenging puzzles, going to lunch with friends and spending time with her family and grandchildren.

Pepper is survived by her husband of 53 years, Mike; children Pat (Judy) of Arden Hills, MN, Martine of Crosby, TX and Angie (Chris) Barber of Plymouth, MN; 4 grandchildren, Gus and Tate McDonald and Ben and Megan Barber, brother, Cosmos Kappenman of Eureka, SD and many other relatives and friends. Preceding Pepper in death were her parents, her in-laws, Harvey and Mary McDonald, brother-in-law, Patrick McDonald and her sisters-in-law Kay Koval and Jeanette McDonald.