Jerrold Joseph Sanders

Jerrold Joseph Sanders, age 83, passed away peacefully on January 31, 2023, surrounded by his loving family. His Funeral Mass will be at 11:00 a.m. on Monday, February 6, 2023, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Cottonwood, MN. There will be a visitation on Sunday from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m., with a rosary at 4:00 p.m. and a prayer service at 7:00 p.m., at the Horvath Remembrance Center in Marshall. Visitation will continue Monday from 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m. at the Remembrance Center. Interment will follow the service at St. Clotilde Catholic Cemetery in Green Valley.

Jerry was born on a farm near Ghent, MN, to Theodore and Elmira Sanders on November 5, 1939. He attended school at St. Edward’s Catholic School for 8 years before going on to Minneota High School where he fostered his love of learning and of course playing basketball and baseball, graduating in 1957. He attended college at St. Cloud State College earning a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Education in 1961. He paid for college by working road construction for many summers and continued even after starting his teaching career. His first teaching job was in South Dakota where he taught business education for 3 years at Macintosh and Timberlake. He met the love of his life, Donna Mae Lozinski while in college and they were united in marriage on May 5, 1962 at St. Leo Catholic Church in St. Leo, MN. In the fall of 1964, he accepted a teaching position at Cottonwood High School (later part of Lakeview High School) where he would remain teaching for over 35 years. Jerry and Donna were blessed with two daughters, five granddaughters, and two great grandchildren. During his time teaching, Jerry served as the finance officer for the school and was also the assistant golf coach. He had the wonderful opportunity to coach both of his daughters during their high school careers and was part of two state championships during his coaching tenure. He was inducted into the Lakeview Hall of Fame in Fall of 2021 along with the entire 1989 State Championship team which included his daughter, Lisa. He always said there wasn’t anything he would have rather done than teach during his lifetime. He loved teaching and always enjoyed the students. He did enjoy farming when he could so often helped his father and brother-in-law with planting and harvesting. Golfing brought him much joy and he was pretty good at it. He wasn’t an exceptionally long ball hitter but he could chip and putt with the very best! He was very proud to be part of the process of opening a golf course in Cottonwood. He served as the first club house manager for the inaugural year of the course and then spent several years as the president of the golf course board of directors. His Catholic faith was very much an important part of his life and he was an active member of the St. Mary’s church community. He used his business knowledge serving as the parish bookkeeper as well as president and member of the parish council. He loved being lector for Mass with his distinctive and powerful voice and the Fall Festival would have not been the same without him calling the BINGO numbers. We should also mention that for many years, he used that beautiful voice to be the announcer of Cottonwood Raider football, calling every game from the crow’s nest at the field in the center of town. His voice could be heard during games from one end of town to the other. After retiring, Jerry did courier work for the local bank for a number of years because he liked to keep busy.  He also started working part-time at the Cottonwood Agronomy Center in the Spring and the Fall, hauling fertilizer to area farms until health problems prevented him from continuing. In his spare time, Jerry loved traveling with his family, golfing, and working on various woodworking projects. His family have many examples of his woodworking talents throughout their households to help keep his memory alive. One of his loves was also keeping up his golf course quality lawn and he had one of the most perfect vegetable gardens in town. He took great pride and joy in watching his daughters and then granddaughters participate in all their athletic activities and was always checking the paper for their latest stats if he wasn’t able to attend. He remained traveling right up to his passing including a trip to Mexico in December with his wife, both of his daughters and one of his granddaughters. It was so much fun that they made a second trip back in January. He was still showing off some impressive tan lines in his last days.

Jerrold is survived by his wife of 60 years, Donna Mae, two daughters Brenda Wentworth of Minneapolis and Lisa (Jeffrey) Caron of Eden Prairie, five granddaughters Katelyn (John) Capistrant, Kara Mae Caron, Kassandra Caron, Kaylee Caron and Kacia Caron, great grandchildren Anthony and Eleanor Capistrant, sister Kathryn VanWatermeulen and many in-laws, nieces and nephews. Also included in his surviving family are Gerard (Gail) Jardine of Tampa, FL, foreign exchange student in 1970-71 and their two daughters, Gina and Nicole and family who always referred to Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Donna as their Minnesota grandparents, as well as Ulrike (Vredeber) Fiebrandt Albrecht of Berlin, Germany, foreign exchange student in 1987-88 and their son, Josef. Jerrold was preceded in death by his parents, infant son Jerrold David, son-in-law Thomas Wentworth and brother in laws Joe VanWatermeulen, Ronald Lozinski and Raymond Lozinski.