Rev. Monrad Mandsager

A memorial service for Rev. Monrad V. Mandsager will be at 11:30 AM on Saturday, September 15, 2018 at First Lutheran Church, Albert Lea.  The Rev. John Holt and Rev. Sean Forde will officiate.  Visitation will take place one hour prior to the service at the church.

The Rev. Monrad Vern Mandsager, 83, passed away at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN on August 4, 2018. He was born April 16, 1935 in North Battle Ford, Saskatchewan to Rev. Melvin and Clara Hagen Mandsager and was baptized at Urland Lutheran Church by his father. He attended Sunday School at Trinity Lutheran Church, Hardy, Iowa and was confirmed by Rev. T.B. Thorson. Monrad attended Norway No 3 country school near Thor, Iowa, the same one his father and his nine aunts and uncles and 12 cousins did, and also Grove No 8, completing eighth grade. He graduated from Humboldt High School in 1953 and continued his education at Eagle Grove Community College while farming for his Uncle Guy and Aunt Louise Barker. He attended LBI for two years and then St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, graduating in 1959 and Luther Seminary, St. Paul, MN in 1963. He spent one summer on the S.S. American, Detroit Lakes, as ship bell hop and chaplain. His ordination was June 3, 1963 at Trinity Lutheran, Hardy, Iowa. Five days later he and Karen Helena Rem were married at Norway Muskego Lutheran Church, WI, leaving on August eighth for Sao Paulo, Brazil to study Portuguese for one year. His mission call was to Bauru and Maringa, 1963 to 1968, where Rev. Mandsager was one of the first missionaries to deliver sermons in Portuguese. Debbie and Craig were born in Brazil.

Back in Minneapolis, Phillip was born;  the family then moved to CA where Rev. Mandsager began a mission church in Sunnymead, 1968-70, and was also an Associate Pastor at Hope Lutheran in Riverside with Rev Robert L Miller. Peter was born in CA. He earned his CA teaching credential in Bakersfield while working in the oil fields in 1970-72. Monrad answered a call to be pastor at Grace Lutheran in Redway, 1972-74. At Sinai-Lake Campbell Lutheran Churches, SD he served as pastor from 1974-77. He entered a clinical pastoral education program at North Memorial Medical Center in Minneapolis, 1977-78, serving at Our Savior’s Lutheran while in school. Now as Chaplain Mandsager he worked at the University Health Care Center in Minneapolis for eleven years and at St. John’s Lutheran Home in Albert Lea for fourteen years, taking a three month sabbatical at Holden Village Lutheran and at the Academy of the Rockies in 2000.He retired on February 9, 2003, but continued to reach and teach the fifth step to many who needed help.

Monrad made the world a better place with his loving ministry of compassion and kindness and his humble empathy that was his superpower. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Karen Helena Mandsager, daughter, Debbie Ann Wunderman (Rick) granddaughter, Essie Anna, sons, Craig Monrad, Phillip Luther, and Peter Olaf, sister, Doris Grace Miller, nephews and nieces and many cousins. He was preceded in death by his brother, Milan Clarence, and his parents, Melvin Olaf Mandsager, Clara Caroline Hagen Mandsager and Neva Lorraine Lenning Mandsager.