WE ARE UNABLE TO "LIVESTREAM" THELMA'S SERVICES, BUT BOTH WILL BE RECORDED AND UPLOADED TO THIS PAGE BY MONDAY EVENING.

Thelma "Tim" Sandgren, 94,  passed away on December 9, 2020 at the Western Horizon's Care Center in Hettinger, ND.

Public visitation will be from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 19, 2020 at the Evanson Jensen Funeral Home in Lemmon, SD and from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. at the Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Bison on Sunday, December 20, followed by a Service of Remembrance at 4:00 p.m. for those that want to attend.  Private family celebration of Thelma's life will be on Monday, December 21, 2020 and burial will be at Rosebud Cemetery, Shadehill, SD.

What follows is Thelma's life history, in her own words.

Thelma was born at the VanWyk homestead (south of Lodgepole) on September 13, 1926 to Gilbert and Marie (Stuit) VanWyk.  She went to the East Fredlund School until the government bought us all out.  Then folks bought a place just south of Holland Center Church with a nice big house and then I went to high school in Hettinger and graduated in 1944 and then I went home to relax for a while.  Then the banker from Hettinger came out and wanted me to work for them.  I laughed and said did you look at my math grades.  "Yes, I did" he said "and you will make a good teacher to help others get started."  I worked my way up to the top teller.  Very interesting.

After 3 ½ years, I retired and on December 16, 1947, I married the love of my life, Frances (Bud) Sandgren.  We were married on the porch of the Holland Center Church parsonage.  Believe it or not, it was a beautiful day.  Pastor Vos (officiated). Arnold and Henriette LeFebre were our attendants and then we all went down to my folks, Gil and Marie, for a big beautiful chicken supper. And then we traveled to Hettinger to Browning Studio and had our pictures taken.  My folks had a nice wedding reception for us at the Holland Center Church the next week.

We settled down on a Sandgren ranch in the Rosebud Community which was a very nice community and wonder full neighbors.  We started out in a basement house and 10 years later built a new house.

To this union were born two girls and three boys.

We always went to the Holland Center Church on Sunday as my parents and siblings were there and coffee time.  Thelma also took part in all the church suppers for many years.  Later on we went to the Rosebud Church but I had also gone to their ladies aid all the time and club, township meetings & cancer board, taking part in all the Rosebud action from day one.

She served as President of ladies aid many times and is (was) the last one to die since they started in the early 1950s and started smorgasbord.  She was also in the group that started the ice cream social at the Lodgepole Hall and we made the ice cream for 30 years, but after her husband passed away, she turned it over to someone else.

She also was great on getting family reunions together and she made around 20.  She started out in the Black Hills and when she had the one on her mother's side, a number of people even flew over from the Netherlands.  We had many of the relatives from coast to coast and it was wonderful getting acquainted.  They preferred the Holland Center area so they could see where everyone had lived and they loved the ranch which we hosted many times and we also hosted community picnics and gatherings.  We still have our local family gathering every summer and everyone is welcome.

She is survived by one brother (Warren VanWyk) and one sister (Gladys Vliem) and her family Mariette (Alton) Cornella, Steven (Susie) Sandgren, Georgia Sandgren, Mark (Linda) Sandgren, and James (Marci) Sandgren, eight grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.  She is preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and one sister (Elaine), and two brothers (Marion Alfred aka Buster), one at infancy (Rodney) and one grandson, Matthew.

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On the morning of Dec. 9, 2020, Thelma Sandgren, who many knew as "Tim", peacefully went to be with Jesus and her loved ones who had gone before her. She was born on Sept. 13, 1926, on the family homestead in rural Perkins County, the eldest of six children born to Marie (Stuit) and Gilbert VanWyk. She attended grade school at East Fredlund School and went on to graduate from Hettinger High School, one of 44 in the Class of 1944. After graduation she was employed at a bank in Hettinger until she was united in  marriage to Francis "Bud" Sandgren on Dec. 16, 1947.

They made their home on a ranch in the Rosebud community west of  Shadehill, SD. They raised five children on that ranch. She also raised a number of domestic and not too domestic animals. She continued to live on and run the ranch after Bud passed away in 2004. Several years later she took an apartment in Bison, SD, during the winter months but if the weather allowed, she was where her heart was, on the ranch. In the Fall of 2017, she was hospitalized and later was moved to the Five Counties Nursing Home in Lemmon. In May of the following year she was strong enough to move to Western Horizons Assisted Living Center in Hettinger, where she enjoyed the remainder of her days.

Thelma loved her family. She demonstrated that love by fixing their favorite meal or baking their favorite goodies whenever they came for a visit. She was a consummate organizer and hostess. She served in leadership roles for the Rosebud Ladies Aide, Farmerettes Extension, township board, cancer board, and Lodgepole ice cream social to name a few. She loved to entertain. Many card   parties, family reunions, and community picnics were hosted at the ranch. If you were ever to her home, whether it be the ranch or her apartment in town, she had coffee and homemade goodies to offer you. She was a lifelong member of the Holland Center Christian Reform Church and a regular parishioner of the Rosebud Lutheran Church. She also enjoyed attending services at churches of various other denominations.

Left to mourn her passing are her children: Mariette (Alton) Cornella, Steve (Susan) Sandgren, Georgia Sandgren, Mark (Linda) Sandgren and James (Marci) Sandgren; grandchildren: Scott (Danielle) Cornella, Terry (Rachel) Cornella, Allison (Dan) Hanson, DeeAndra (Wayne) Stevens,  Lesley (Cody) Kling, Rachel (Kyle) Dalzell, and Kylee Sandgren; great-grandchildren: Preston Cornella; Riley, Megan, and Marley Cornella;  Elizabeth and Bennett Hanson; Natalie and Eden Stevens, Tucker and Bridger Kling; and Eli Dalzell; brother, Warren VanWyk;   sister, Gladys Vliem; brothers-in-law, Dean Anderson, David Sandgren, Paul (Evelyn) Sandgren, John (Sharon) Sandgren, Joe Sandgren; and        numerous nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Bud; her  youngest grandson, Matthew; brothers, Buster and Rodney in infancy; sister, Elaine; brothers-in-law, James "Jim" Vliem, George Sandgren, and Albert Weaver; and sisters-in-law, Carolyn VanWyk, Elaine Sandgren, Shirley Weaver, and Phyllis Sandgren.