Danny Kollasch

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A funeral Mass  for Danny Kollasch of Bancroft was held Saturday, March 11, 2023, at 10:30 AM at Divine Mercy Parish ~ St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Bancroft with Father Matthew Solyntjes officiating and Father Merle Kollasch homilist.  Burial was in St. John’s Catholic Cemetery.  Oakcrest Funeral Services of Bancroft in charge of arrangements.  Online condolences may be made to www.oakcrestfuneralservices.com.

Daniel Charles Kollasch was born in Algona, Iowa on May 14, 1993, to Jennifer (Degen) Eichenberger and Steve Kollasch.  Danny graduated from North Sentral Kossuth high school in 2012.  After graduation Danny attended North Iowa Area Community College where he studied sports management. 

 Danny had a love for anything with wheels…with or without a motor.  His first ride was a Graco, from there he advanced to a radio flyer, shortly after that, with more bravery he conquered a Power Wheels F-150…after successfully mastering his driving skills, he was upgraded to a Power Wheels John Deere Gator which was the base of sales success as he broke the record for raffle sales at the St. John Bazaar year after year!  Once he wore the treads off the John Deere…he rolled out in a deluxe adaptive chair. Being upset about not having his independence, he soon upgraded to his made-to-order, deluxe model motorized ride.  While they were making sure he had everything he needed on the chair, his first comment was, “Can you make it go faster?” Dan enjoyed giving kids rides on the back of his wheelchair and many enjoyed watching him cruise by on a nice day.  

Danny enjoyed one week each summer attending Camp Courageous in Monticello, Iowa from 2000-2019 where he met lifelong friends and got into a lot of mischief.  Going to camp brought the biggest smiles to Danny’s face as he could be just like other kids.  It was always a week to be remembered and he looked forward to it each year.  

 Danny attended St. John Catholic School through 5th grade.  From there he went to North Kossuth Middle School.  He was so nervous to have new classmates and attend a new school but as he walked into the classroom that first morning a handsome young man named Travis walked right over, leaned on his chair and said, “You and I are going to be best friends for life”.  As Dan says, that is one of the few times Travis has been right. 

Throughout middle and high school Danny was a 4 year honor roll student, and was a freshman and senior homecoming court attendant.  Danny was also the baseball and football manager, thrilled to be part of the state championship team of 2008. After graduating, Dan continued to volunteer coach with the baseball team rarely missing a game! 

 Danny enjoyed “trying” to beat his brothers and brothers-in-law in x-box, playing board and card games with family, downloading every entertainment app there was and determined to watch every series and movie he could get.   There was never a truer, die-hard fan than Danny as he followed the Iowa Hawkeyes, Chicago Cubs, Indianapolis Colts (actually Peyton Manning and Dallas Clark), and the LA Lakers (ok…actually Lebron James).  No one, and we mean NO ONE, could bad mouth any of his teams or players without backlash from Danny!  Danny’s complete love for NASCAR was evident by his love of driving fast!  He loved Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Chase Elliot.   

 Danny was blessed to get to travel with his father to Florida to the Daytona 500, where he brought Dale Jr. into victory lane.  He also traveled to speedways in Vegas, Arizona, Michigan, Bristol, Texas, Indianapolis, and Iowa, stopping in Nashville where he got to attend the Grand Ole Opry, and North Carolina at the NASCAR hall of fame.  Danny’s family has also taken him to several Cubs games and LA Lakers games.  One of Dan’s favorite memories was his Make-A-Wish trip to Disneyworld in Florida in 2001.  Danny was treated like a king by all the employees and characters and came home with two suitcases full of stuffed animals from all the volunteers at Give Kids the World Village where they stayed for the week. 

Danny’s favorite thing was to spend time with his family, especially his nieces and nephews.  Those kiddos brought SO much joy to his life and he loved to buy them things, play cards with them and tease them.  Danny loved it when his family came home and got together and blessed us with his biggest smiles when he kicked everyone’s butt in a game!  Danny was full of love and compassion and enjoyed surprising friends and family with gifts, especially when they were in need of something specific.  He especially loved adopting a family in need every Christmas and participated fully in buying the things they needed. 

Danny is survived by his parents, Jenny (Brad) Eichenberger and Steve Kollasch; his siblings, Steph (Brent) Schneider and their children Zealin and Astrid, Beth (Blake) Pedersen and their children, Cooper, Owen and Elliott, Thomas Kollasch, and Parker Eichenberger; his maternal grandmother, Ann “Nana” Degen, his paternal grandfather, Jim Kollasch; and several aunts, uncles and cousins. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandfather Don “Papa” Degen; his paternal grandmother, Glenda Kollasch; and a niece and nephew, Patrick and Raelynne Pedersen.