Karen Mandsager

A memorial service for Karen Mandsager will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, November 15, 2025, at First Lutheran Church in Albert Lea; visitation will begin one hour prior to the service at the church.

Karen H. Mandsager passed away on October 14, 2025, in Mapleton, Minnesota, at the age of 88. She was born April 15, 1937, to Oscar and Marie Rem in Portland, North Dakota, the youngest of six children. After graduating from high school in Humboldt, Iowa, Karen continued her education at Luther College, Augsburg College, and Fairview School of Nursing. During this time, and skated in the Ice Capades and worked as a young nurse in Minneapolis where she met the love of her life, a young orderly named Monrad Mandsager.

On June 8, 1963, Karen married Rev. Monrad Mandsager at Norway Muskego Lutheran Church in Wind Lake, Wisconsin. Two months later, the couple moved to São Paulo, Brazil, for Rev. Monrad's mission where they both learned Portuguese before beginning mission work. While stationed in Bauru and Maringa, Brazil, from 1963 to 1968, Debbie and Craig were born. In 1968, the family welcomed Phillip during a short residency in Minneapolis, then embarking to start a mission church in Sunnymeade, California, 1968-70; during this time, they welcomed their fourth child, Peter.

The family moved often going from Southern to Northern California, then to South Dakota and then Minneapolis for many years before coming to Albert Lea in 1989 where Monrad served as Chaplin at St. Johns nursing home. Throughout all these moves, Karen faithfully served as loving pastors' wife, taught Sunday school and Vacation Bible School, and always sung in the Choir or played piano for holiday and plays. Karen loved music and musicals, directing the musical Oliver while in northern California. Wife, mother, singer, Karen also held numerous nursing roles in many hospitals over the years, including the Fairview ER in Minneapolis, the University of Chicago Hospital, the University of Minneapolis Hospital, Redway Hospital in California, North Memorial, Golden Valley Hospitals, Austin, Abbott Northwestern hospitals in the Twin Cities, and then Naeve Hospital in Albert Lea, and at the Generose Building at Mayo in Rochester. Throughout her nursing career, she continued learning, specializing in adolescence psych, family counseling, and headache clinic work and was beloved by patients and fellow staff alike.

Karen loved walks in the great outdoors, cross country skiing, ice skating, caring for her family, her patients, and those in her community. In Albert Lea, she hosted stress management workshops, was a member of the Sons of Norway, and played an active role at Albert Lea's First Lutheran Church as a Sunday school teacher, confirmation leader, and a member of their Women's Group. When she wasn't caring for her loved ones and community, Karen could be found reading, catching up on politics, painting Rosemaling, and making Norwegian dolls or growing flowers for competition at the county fair. She loved gardening, hiking, camping, swimming, traveling, and being a grandma.

Karen made the world a better place through her healing presence, compassionate heart, and endless learning and growth. She is survived by her four children: Deborah and her husband Rick Wunderman, Craig Mandsager, Phillip Mandsager, and Peter Mandsager; granddaughter Essi Wunderman; and sister-in-law Mary Rem. She was preceded in death by her husband, Rev. Monrad Mandsager; parents, Oscar and Marie Rem; sister, Anne Marie and her husband Fred Wright; brother Odin and his wife Betty; brother Richard and his wife Darlene, brother John and his wife Mari, and brother Donald.