Jerry Jean Siemers

1941 - 2025

Jerry Jean Siemers, a devoted wife, mother and the sturdy-yet-demure backbone of two families, passed away on Saturday, August 23, 2025, at Rivers Edge Assisted Living in Aitkin, Minnesota, after a multi-year battle with cancer. She was 83.

Jerry was born on Nov. 15, 1941, in Grafton, North Dakota, as the first of five children born to Marvin and Muriel (Hanson) "Sis" Sack. After a childhood that involved fishing for northerns with her father and working on several farms in northeastern North Dakota picking beets and sowing wild oats from the fields, she graduated in 1959 from Inkster (ND) High School, where she was valedictorian of her class and won the John Phillip Sousa Award for the school's most outstanding band member, starting a legacy later carried on by three of her children.

At 17, she moved to Minneapolis in search of civil service work, eventually working for two and a half years as a nurse's aide at the University of Minnesota hospital system. It was during that time, on a trip from her family home in Inkster, North Dakota, back to Minneapolis with her aunt, Marian Youngberg, that she found herself on a detour to the Myr Mar Lodge supper club on Mille Lacs Lake, where she was introduced to Richard "Dick" Siemers, the eldest son of the private club's proprietors. After a courtship that took place mostly in the Twin Cities, where Dick was taking business classes, they married on Sept. 11, 1961, in Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.

The couple lived the rest of their lives just north of Garrison, the first several years at Myr Mar until late 1966, when they moved the family into a new house perched atop a hill across Highway 169 from Myr Mar that for years to come would stand as a landmark for passersby. With the passing of her mother-in-law, Hazel Siemers, in May 1966, Jerry found herself leading a household that included not only her own two children at the time, but also six of her husband's still-school-aged siblings. Despite the unexpected and often challenging circumstances, including the unexpected deaths of the youngest Siemers sibling, Tammy, and her younger brother Kelly Sack, Jerry persevered. She was a hard worker. She helped keep the books of the family fishing business, Dick Siemers Launch Service, while also managing her household and working as a nurses' aide at the Aitkin Hospital, often on graveyard shifts, starting in the late 1960s and continuing into the early 1980s. Upon becoming a widow in 2017, she tackled independence with the same determination and work ethic that guided her through every other challenge in life.

In her later years, she enjoyed following her childrens' lives through high school, college, marriages, careers and via grandchildren. She became an avid collector of the newspaper clippings of her youngest son, Erik, printing out each story he wrote and compiling them in a series of three-ring binders. She enjoyed sports, particularly baseball and basketball, following the Twins, Vikings and Timberwolves, and later developing a particular fondness for Caitlin Clark and other players in the WNBA, most of whom, like her, are strong women that have battled through adversity. She loved spending several days a week doing water aerobics with her dear friends on the "Garrison Swim Team." She relished a glass of red wine at the end of every evening.

Even as she struggled through multiple cancer diagnoses in her final years, Jerry remained the example of stoicism through strife, never lingering on her own fate, but more concerned over yours. Somehow, in death, she set a standard for living.

Jerry is survived by her four children, Toni (Jerry) Cassady, Garrison, MN; Ken (Hal Groce) Siemers, Minneapolis; Tara Creten, Aitkin, MN; and Erik (Nicole) Siemers, Edwardsville, IL; six grandchildren, Dillon Heins, Ashley Laurion, Cody Heins, Abby Creten, Quinn Siemers and Keaton Siemers; two great-grandchildren, Walker and Paxton Laurion; Her siblings, Cathy (George) Fleming, Woodland, CA; Cindy (Ronald) Jenson, Naples, FL; and Kerry (Ann) Sack, Maple Grove, MN; sisters-in-law Linda McGillis, Glenda (Mike) Murphy, Patti (Rick) Baillif, Sharon (Daryl) Hanson; and brother-in-law Doug Siemers. She was preceded in death by her parents, Marvin and Muriel (Hanson) Sack, husband Richard Siemers; brother Kelly Sack; sisters-in-law Nancy Kokesh and Tammy Siemers; brothers-in-law George Fleming, Robert Kokesh, Dennis Siemers and Jack McGillis.

Upon death, Jerry donated her body to the University of Minnesota for medical research.

A visitation will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday, August 30, at Salem Lutheran Church in Deerwood, MN, followed by an 11 a.m. service and a light luncheon. Interment will be held at Bennettville Cemetery at a later date.