Gordon Sandahl, 81

ÝÝÝLake Bronson - Gordon Sandahl, 81, of Lake Bronson, died at the Kittson Memorial Healthcare Center in Hallock on Sunday, August 29, 2004.

ÝÝÝFuneral services will be held at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, September 1, (today) at Eidsvold Lutheran Church in Halma. Casket bearers include Brian Sandahl, David Sandahl, Matthew Cummins, Brian Garceau, Bruce Sandahl and Jerry Sandahl. Interment will be held at Riverside Cemetery in Lake Bronson.

ÝÝÝGordon was born in Lake Bronson on June 19, 1923, the son of Carl and Christine Sandahl. He graduated from Lake Bronson High School in 1942 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy that same year. Gordon took his basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Base near Chicago. He played snare drum in the drum and bugle corps and received training in diesel engines at the University of Minnesota.

ÝÝÝGordon achieved the rank of motor machinist mate class two. He served on a barge transporting supplies to various ports, much of the time to islands in the South Pacific. ÝÝÝOn September 7, 1947 he married Audrey Skarp of Karlstad. Gordon did carpentry work with his father and brother for many years in the Lake Bronson area. He and Audrey then bought the Hartz Store in Lake Bronson and in 1972, began making Skarpís Potato Korv. In 1974, they constructed a new building for the sausage manufacturing. After passing federal inspection, they began selling to stores in much of northern Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. They sold their sausage manufacturing business in 1988, and retired that same year. He was a member of the Halma-Lake Bronson American Legion and the Thief River Falls VFW.

ÝÝÝSurvivors include his wife, Audrey; two sons, Greg (special friend Kathy) of Thief River Falls, and Dan (Karen) of East Grand Forks; a daughter, Wynette (Arnell) Cummins of Halma; seven grandchildren; three great-grandchildren; sisters, Doris Williams and Dee (Don) Nelson of Hastings, and Arlean (William) Kropelnicki of Cottage Grove.

ÝÝÝHe was preceded in death by his parents; a sister, Grace and brother, Allan.ÝÝÝÝÝÝ ÝÝÝA00003B2004SP01