Donavon Decker, age 62, of Andover Kansas, passed away Monday, September 1, 2025, at USD Sanford Medical Center, Sioux Falls.

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His funeral service was held 1:00 PM, Thursday, September 4, at Mount Olivet Church, Huron, SD. Interment was in the Ideal Cemetery. His service was live-streamed .

Visitation with family present was held from 5:00 to 7:00 PM, Wednesday, September 3, at the Kuhler Funeral Home. A time of sharing was held at 6:30 PM.

In lieu of flowers, the family prefers memorials that will be shared with MDA and Voice of the Martyrs.

Donavon Ray Decker was born February 19, 1963, in Huron, SD to Delbert and Ruth Decker. He was number seven of eight children.

Donavon accepted Jesus Christ as his Savior during Bible Camp at the age of 12. Being equipped by the Holy Spirit, he handled many of his life difficulties with gratitude and grace.  He persevered when needing to wear a back brace for severe scoliosis and kids would knock him off his bike so he would need to push the bike the rest of the way home, and rarely let his diagnosis of Muscular Dystrophy as a teenager get him down but faced all things in his life with that Spirit-infused outlook and attitude.

Donavon graduated from Huron High School in 1981, and to this day remained close to several of those classmates. Donavon loved to hunt, making many fond memories with friends. He loved horses and owned race horses. Donavon was an avid Minnesota Vikings fan, even ordering his last wheelchair with purple accents in honor of the Vikings.

Donavon was employed by US FAA, serving the Flight Service of Huron as an air traffic control specialist, again, making life-long friends. When Flight Service of Huron closed, he moved to Princeton, Minnesota and worked for Lockheed Martin as an air traffic control specialist.  He had a passion for aviation and weather.

Donavon worked closely with the Muscular Dystrophy Association for many years, earning several awards. As a pioneer in the research world, he was the first person to be injected with gene therapy for muscular dystrophy in 1999. A highlight was meeting Jerry Lewis in Washington, DC where they both went to testify before Congress.  He has been very active in the fight against muscular dystrophy, tirelessly advocating, even starting his own company, Angle Therapeutics, to keep the fight going.

He married the love of his life, Kirsten Gale, November 12, 2011.  They began their life together in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and then moved to Wichita, Kansas area to be closer to Kirsten's family. Their Wichita church family was a priority to Donavon and Kirsten where they taught 4th/5th grade for seven years together. Their marriage was how marriage should be, they each thought they were the lucky one.

Donavon is survived by his wife, Kirsten, of Andover, KS, stepson, Nicholas Gale of Wichita, KS; his siblings, Dennis (Maureen) Decker of Yale, David Decker of Sioux Falls, Melanie (Mark) Wipf of Huron and June (David) Burney of Sioux Falls. His in-laws, Bruce Harms of Madison; David Clark, WA; Sabrina (Ron) Nibbelink, Augusta, KS; Heather (Aaron) Myrick, McKinney, TX; and Kent Ott, Mulvane, KS. He is also survived by his aunt and uncle, Bud and Gail Brock, Hitchcock; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his grandparents; his father in 1987; his mother in 2024; his step-father, Curtis Weber in 2021; his sisters, Jolene Harms in 2023, Monica German in 2012 and Mary Clark in 2018; and his sister in-law, Rebecca Ott in 2021.

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