By Mary Divine

St. Paul Pioneer Press

ST. PAUL — The man who was featured in the St. Paul Dispatch for surviving a premature birth 70 years ago has died.

A memorial service for Donald Todora, dubbed “the miracle baby of St. Paul,” was held Saturday at the Cresco, Iowa, Community Chapel. Todora, who lived in Cresco, died Nov. 19 of complications related to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, family members said.

Born three months premature on Oct. 18, 1946, at St. Luke’s Hospital, Todora weighed 1 pound, 12 ounces and spent three months in an incubator. His birth made the news: “Incubator Baby Winning Fight” read the headline in the Dispatch.

Todora’s mother called on the nuns of the Catholic Church of St. James in St. Paul to pray for him. “When they prayed for me, I got better,” Todora told the Pioneer Press in October. “That’s the truth. I feel it was God at work.”

Todora was thrilled with the Pioneer Press article, which was shared widely on social media, said his daughter Sarah Browning, who lives in Phoenix.

“He was really tickled by the amount of well-wishes and love he received from people all over the country,” Browning said. “He called me a couple of days after the article posted and said, ‘Sarah, I am going viral!’ “ He loved that people were sharing the story on Facebook. He was just ear-to-ear smiles when people talked to him about it.”

Todora, who also suffered from Parkinson’s disease, said it was a miracle he survived childhood. “I got pneumonia six times as a baby,” he said. “I got polio when I was 6, and I had to spend three months in the hospital. … I survived that, too.”

Todora, who graduated from Johnson High School in 1964, met and married Rita May Walter in 1967. After working for 25 years as a produce manager for Country Club Supermarkets in St. Paul, Todora retired. He and Rita moved in 2009 to Cresco, where he loved sitting outside their house and saying “Hello” to passers-by, Browning said.

In September, friends and family gathered for a surprise 70th birthday party at daughter Brenda Pecinovsky’s house in Cresco. Among those in attendance were the couple’s 11 children, 19 grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.