Sandra Jean Elshaug

Sandra Jean Elshaug found her eternal peace on Thursday the 20th of April, 2023, she was eighty years old.

Sandra was born to parents Ewald and Erna Schroeder on the 11th of September, in 1942, in St. Cloud Minnesota. She grew up on the family farm, there she learned to help with cooking, baking, washing, and milking the occasional cow. Also, as she grew older, she was able to help care for her younger siblings. She graduated from St. Cloud Technical High School.

She was united in marriage to Richard Barnes and, though later divorced, they were blessed with three children: Kevin, Cynthia, and Curtis. Years later, she married once more to Eugene Elshaug, and was blessed by the addition of two step-daughters, Angela and Melanie, who she embraced as her own. Their union was then blessed by the addition of two more sons: Jason and Jeremy. Her work life found her in an assortment of employment positions in the service industry though none so rewarding as the joy of raising her children. During that time, she also babysat the daughter of a dear friend.

Throughout her life, she continued to strengthen her faith, her bonds to family and friends, and to find pleasure in the pursuit of her hobbies and interests. She enjoyed playing cards with family, teaching Sunday school over the course of many years, gardening, canning, baking, writing letters and sending out cards, and many a Saturday morning in her younger years she would be found visiting garage sales in search of a good bargain. She was rather skilled in the art of fileting fish, a skill she put to use when family visited, and many a limit were brought home. The joy of this, of course, being the fish fry that inevitably followed. She also helped serve her community through the LWML and with fundraising for the church and various charitable foundations such as the March of Dimes.

She was preceded in death by her parents Ewald and Erna (Reinholt) Schroeder, her husband Eugene Elshaug, her first husband Richard Barnes, her sisters Mary, Audrey, and Cheryl, and her brother Donnie.

She is survived by her siblings, Marlin, Lois, Delbert (Doris), Lawrence (Marilyn), and Gary (Royce). Her children, Kevin (Nancy), Cynthia, Curtis (Paula), Angela (Jason), Melanie, Jason (Heather), and Jeremy. As well as eighteen grandchildren and nineteen great grandchildren. She will be sorely and terribly missed.

Funeral Service: Tuesday, April 25 at 1 pm at Trinity Lutheran Church Fergus Falls with visitation one hour prior to the service.

Glende-Nilson Funeral Home, Fergus Falls