Sanden, Bonnie Lou (1934-2017)

SANDEN, BURSETH, HAGEN, LAWSON, SHAW, PLETCHER, STENZEL, CUNNINGHAM, JONES, BRACKEY

Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 5/19/2017 at 19:08:16

Bonnie Lou Sanden
February 07, 1934 - March 10, 2017

Bonnie L. Sanden, age 83, of Lake Mills, died on Friday, March 10, 2017, at the Lake Mills Care Center.

The youngest of seven children, Bonnie Lou was born on February 7, 1934, near Forest City, Iowa, to Oscar and Marie (Hagen) Burseth. Baptized in the Lutheran faith and confirmed at Winnebago Lutheran Church by Rev. H.F. Huseth, Bonnie attended Kindergarten through second grade at the Forest City Elementary School. When she was eight, she moved with her family to a farm near Leland. There, she attended Country School Center #5 through the eighth grade. Then, she enrolled at Lake Mills High School.

Bonnie loved the farm with all the animals including baby chicks, ducklings, geese, cats, and dogs besides the cows, pigs, and horses. Moreover, she loved to go horseback riding, an activity she pursued frequently. Besides taking lunches to the men working in the fields, she, also, helped with chores.

On June 15, 1952, Bonnie married Sterling Sanden at the Winnebago Lutheran Church. They resided on the Sanden family farm near Joice while living in one of the two homes on the same place and farming with his parents. To their union, three children were born, Robert, Pamela, and Lynn. In 1959, they moved into Lake Mills where they had built a new home. By1963, however, the lure of farming proved too great. They sold their home in Lake Mills and purchased a farm south of Emmons, Minnesota, on the Iowa side. While continuing to farm, Sterling worked at the Graphic in Lake Mills as well.

In 1968, to facilitate transporting their children to their school activities, Bonnie and Sterling decided to move back into Lake Mills. They build another new home close to their children’s school, living there for the next thirty-one years. During this time, Bonnie quit her job at Deluxe Products and returned to business school. Later, she worked at Queen Products of Albert Lea in the Purchasing Department office. She began as clerk-typist and was later promoted to buyer for the products needed to manufacture ice machines. She worked for Queen Products, which later became Scottsman Ice Systems, for over twenty-three years before opting for early retirement when Scottsman decided to close the Albert Lea factory and move to Fairfax, South Carolina. She remained with Scottsman until March 31, 1989, but did fly to South Carolina after that date to help with purchasing for a short time. After retiring, she decided to take nurses training classes before beginning to work at the Good Samaritan Nursing Home in Forest City, a position she held for several years.

Bonnie enjoyed traveling, taking many trips with her husband and children. They did ballroom dancing and square dancing, went to country music shows and Blue Grass Festivals, and camped. In 1983, they went to Europe, visiting and sightseeing in Germany, Belgium, France, Holland, and Switzerland.
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Bonnie and Sterling, also, kept busy with rental properties starting in 1968. In 1989, they purchased the Sanden Family (Century Farm) where their oldest son, Robert, and his wife, Rose, still live. In 1999, they decided to build a new home in a different section of Lake Mills, so they sold their home of thirty-one years.

A member of Salem Lutheran Church since 1959, Bonnie participated in circle and the Alter Guild in addition to teaching Sunday school. She cherished her faith in her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. She loved God’s creation and beautiful flowers, and she enjoyed gardening.

She is survived by her children: Robert, and his wife, Rose Sanden, Pamela Brackey, and Lynn Sanden; her granddaughters: Crystal Sanden, Ashley (Brackey) Lawson, and her husband, Randy, Becky (Brackey) Shaw, and her husband, Casey; and one great-grandson, Dylan Sanden.

Bonnie was preceded in death by her husband, Sterling; her parents, Oscar and Marie Burseth; her brothers: Emery, Melvin, and his wife, Dorothy, Vernon, and his wife Rose Marie, and Orville Burseth; her sisters: Irene, and her husband, Leonard Pletcher and Doris Stenzel; her sisters-in-law, Arlene, and her husband, Lyle Cunningham, Adeline, and her husband, Bert Jones; her father- and mother-in-law, Arthor and Cora Sanden; and her son-in-law, Danny Brackey.

We will miss Bonnie’s presence, but are thankful to have shared in her life.

Always an energetic, caring person, very concerned about her family, she, always, wanted to stay close, getting together for all holidays and sometimes in between.

Memorial services will be held at 1:30 PM, Saturday, April 8, 2017, at Salem Lutheran Church, 401 S Lake Street, Lake Mills, Iowa, with Pastor Melinda McCluskey officiating. Family will greet relatives and friends for one hour before the service at the church. Inurnment will take place at a later date at Bristol Cemetery in rural Joice, Iowa.
Blessed be her memory.

Mittelstadt Funeral Home, 2017.

Winnebago Obituaries maintained by Cheryl Siebrass.
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