Zona Danielita Kaml

Zona Danielita Kaml (Knox) was called home to rest on November 22, 2022. She passed away peacefully at home at the age of 63.

Zona was born on February 9, 1959, in Kalispell, Montana, to Mary Ann (Dunham) Mushel and Gerald “Jerry” Mushel. She was the third of four daughters. Her father later remarried, and Zona gained a loving stepmother, stepsister, and stepbrother. She spent her early years in Polson, Montana, and the family later moved to a 240-acre ranch near Flathead Lake in Big Arm, Montana. She graduated from Polson High School and moved to the Red River Valley in northern Minnesota, where she built a life she loved, raised a family, and cultivated community around her.

Zona’s fervor for life was evident in everything she did. She loved the outdoors as a child and her deep connection with nature was constant throughout her life. She saw wonder everywhere, venturing outdoors on even the coldest winter days to nurture another lifelong passion: photography. Zona sought to capture the beauty she saw in the world through her photography, and she took special joy in sharing her photos with friends and loved ones. Sharing was particularly important to Zona. She artfully grew flowers, vegetable gardens, and apple trees, which she lovingly and readily shared with others.

Zona was insatiably curious. Counting herself a lifelong learner, she took on each new challenge with enthusiasm, determination, and grit. She read voraciously and shared her love of reading with her children. She earned the rank of master gardener and enjoyed taking courses in photography and holistic health. Zona served in a wide range of professional and community service roles, each affording her a new opportunity to grow, learn, and build expertise. She took pleasure in sharing her learning and expertise with the world, expanding her ever-growing circle of friends along the way. In retirement, Zona found energy, purpose, and community in drag racing. As was her character, she embraced racing wholeheartedly: sponsoring racers, working as a one-woman pit crew, and taking care of everything and everyone around her. She embraced the racing community as family – and was revered for it.

To know Zona was to love her. She was magnetic, spirited, and her presence was felt and embraced by all around her. Those who were fortunate enough to have a close relationship with her heard from her often. Zona needed her loved ones to know how much she loved and cared. She ended every call with “I love you.”

The light and energy Zona exuded, which once filled a room, slowly diminished over the years. Although her spirit never faded, she ultimately succumbed to the rigors of the cruel and tormenting disease of addiction, which robbed her and her loved ones of precious time together. She lived and loved with her whole self, and her loving memory lives on in all those whose lives she touched. Her family takes comfort in knowing she is now at peace.

Zona is survived by many who loved her: her daughter, Megan Knox (Andrew Rubens) of Seattle, Washington; her son, William Knox and family of Fisher, Minnesota; her sisters, Ruth Caudill (Wade) of Big Arm, Montana, Catherine Mushel (Tom Kramer) of Portland, Oregon, and Rose Ployhar (Dave) of Kalispell, Montana; her stepsister, Shannon Webster, of Baxter, Minnesota; sister-in-law, Rosaena Sanchez-Mushel of Corpus-Christi, Texas; nieces and nephews and great-nieces and great-nephews; and many friends whom she called family. Zona is preceded in death by her mother, Mary Ann Mushel; her father and stepmother, Gerald and Darlene Mushel; her stepbrother, Christopher Mushel; maternal grandparents Gladys Dunham, and De Witt Dunham and Bernice Fitzgerald Kossoff; and paternal grandparents Aloysius and Maude Mushel.

Zona will be laid to rest in Greenwood Cemetery in Fisher, Minnesota, in Spring 2023. A visitation will be held Friday, December 9, 2022, from 5-7:00 pm at Stenshoel-Houske Funeral Home in Crookston, Minnesota, with a prayer service at 7:00 pm.