Joanne Yvonne (Rumpsa) Fedorko

Joanne Yvonne (Rumpsa Gamble) Fedorko, 87, of Aitkin, died on Thursday, April 3, 2025. She passed peacefully at home, in her sleep, with her daughter and son at her side.

A funeral mass will be held on Friday, April 25 at 11:00am at St. James Catholic Church in Aitkin with visitation one hour prior. Burial will be at the nearby St. Thomas Cemetery with a reception to follow at the church.

Joanne was born on November 18, 1937, in Columbia Heights, Minnesota, to her parents Joseph Rumpsa and Susan Rudolph, in the home in which she would grow up.

Joanne attended Immaculate Conception School through the eighth grade and graduated from Columbia Heights High School in 1955. She married her high school sweetheart, Dwayne Gamble, a year later and soon welcomed three children: Kathleen, Brian, and Scott.

While raising her family, Joanne worked as a school secretary for nearly 30 years in the Columbia Heights school district. She often said that if you worked in a school, the two most important people to befriend were the school secretary and the head custodian: between them, you could get whatever you needed.

Dwayne and Joanne divorced after 25 years of marriage but remained friends the rest of his life. Joanne later married another high school sweetheart, James Fedorko. They lived in Spring Lake Park for a time and then moved to a small farm in Aitkin. Joanne was employed by the Aitkin Alternative School for 26 years, retiring after completing 55 years as a school secretary.

Joanne is survived by her daughter Kathy (Tom) Compo, Brooklyn Center; son Brian (Sue) Gamble, Aitkin; grandson Joshua Riccard, Mylo, ND; sister, Audrey Johnson, Champlin; daughter-in-law Connie Gamble, Baxter; sister-in-law Lorraine Douglas, Circle Pines; five stepchildren and many other relatives and friends.

Joanne was preceded in death by her parents, husbands Dwayne Gamble and James Fedorko, son Scott Gamble, brother and sister-in-law Donald (Edna) Rumpsa, and brother-in-law Axel Johnson.

A funeral mass will be held on Friday, April 25 at 11:00 A.M. in St. James Catholic Church in Aitkin. Visitation will be 1 hour prior to the service at the church. Interment will be in St. Thomas Catholic Cemetery, Aitkin with a reception to follow at the church.

To leave a message of condolence please go to www.srtfuneral.com.  Arrangements are with Sorensen-Root-Thompson Funeral Home & Creation Service, Aitkin.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Joanne Yvonne (Rumpsa) Fedorko, please visit our floral store.