Elizabeth "Betty" Sand

Elizabeth C. “Betty” Sand, age 92 of Albany, passed away peacefully on Monday, December 20, 2021 at the Mother of Mercy Nursing Home in Albany, Minnesota.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Thursday, December 23 at Seven Dolors Catholic Church in Albany with Rev. Edward Vebelun, O.S.B. officiating. The Mass will be livestreamed and can be viewed by clicking on the following link https://youtu.be/7aYojJvPKpk  Interment will be in the parish cemetery.

Visitation will be from 9 to 10:45 a.m. Thursday at the Seven Dolors gathering area.

Elizabeth Carolyn Kraemer was born May 4, 1929 in West Union to John and Frances (Deters) Kraemer. Betty graduated from Osakis High School and graduated in 1947. She was very proud of the fact that she was the first in her family to graduate high school. She received a nursing certificate and worked briefly as a nursing assistant at the Melrose hospital. It was there that she met Ervin Sand who was in the hospital to have surgery. They immediately hit it off and were engaged shortly after meeting. Ervin and Betty were married Oct 12, 1948 at St Alexius Catholic Church in West Union, MN. Ervin and Betty moved to a farm near New Munich, MN and began to build their family. Betty took quickly to the roll of a farmer’s wife and mother. The family grew to four children before they moved to Albany in 1954. Their small farm on the edge of town was bustling with cows, horses, pigs, chickens and children. As the family grew to eleven children, the town of Albany grew and soon the farm was divided up into lots for single family homes. Ervin got into the construction business and Betty added bookkeeping, painting and staining to her list of many talents. When Ervin and some partners built the Dairy Queen in Albany, Betty became the general manager. Next came the Sand’s Motel and the Sand’s Restaurant. Many of the recipes that Betty used to feed her children were used when the restaurant was opened and are still in use today. Betty was very involved in Seven Dolors Catholic Church, the Albany Community Center and Mother of Mercy Care Center.

She enjoyed knitting, needlepoint and quilting with the Christian Women to make sure all her children and grandchildren had quilts, afghans, scarfs, pot holders and dish towels for years to come.

Yes, Betty Sand wore many hats over her 92 years, but the best ones she wore were wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother. She wore all those titles with pride.

“When a mother dies, we lose a piece of who we are. We lose the person whose story provides the beginning of our own.” (Author unknown)

Survivors include her children, James (Jean) Sand of Avon, Dennis (Joan) Sand of Albany, Judy (Eldred) Dingmann of Monticello, Dale (Mary) Sand of Cold Spring, Leo Sand of Avon, Tom (Ginger) Sand of Rochester, and Brian (Sherri) Sand of Albany; 26 grandchildren, 45 great-grandchildren, five great-great-grandchildren and one on the way; and daughter-in-law, Karen Sand of St. Joseph.

Betty was preceded in death by her husband, Ervin Sand on February 10, 2000; parents; daughters, Mary Kay Sand, Diane Sand, Mary Lou Sand, and Joyce Winter; son-in-law, Bert Winter;  brothers and sisters,  Frank Kraemer, John Kraemer, Vivian Marthaler, Mary Jane Kane, Jerry Kraemer, and Ray Kraemer; and grandson, Joey Sand.

In lieu of flowers, memorials are preferred to Mother of Mercy Nursing Home Foundation in Albany.