Sanner Family Stories

Royce Sanner

2011-04-13T20:08:00.003-05:00

Royce Norman Sanner, age 80, died Saturday, April 9, 2011. Preceded in death by parents, Oscar and Clara; sister, Doris and brothers, Clayton and Lowell. Survived by his wife, Janice; daughter, Michelle and son, Craig; sisters, Eunice Yakes, Muriel (Dennis) Keil and Carol Turner; brothers, Floyd (Peggy), Glenn (Harriet) and Allen (Dolores) as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

Royce graduated from Moorhead State University and the U of M Law School in 1961 and worked at IDS, Reliastar and the law firm of Maslon, Edelman, Borman and Brand. He served in the Army and was active in many non-profit organizations such as Fairview Hospitals, Camp Friendship and Fraser Community Services.

A celebration of his life will be held at 11 AM Thursday, April 14, 2011 at Oak Knoll Lutheran Church, 600 Cty. Rd. 73, Minnetonka with visitation 2 hours prior to the service at church. In lieu of flowers memorials preferred to Fraser Community Services, Camp Friendship or Oak Knoll Lutheran Church.

Sack Game

2010-07-06T21:02:00.002-05:00

Hey all! Many people asked about how to get a set of boards - so I'm passing along the contact info for Gene Rademacher - where we got our awesome boards with sandbags:

Gene Rademacher
RGR Sandboards
320-256-3813
rossrad@meltel.net

Sanner Families @ Reunion

2010-07-04T09:33:00.006-05:00

The 2010 reunion has come and gone! It was hot and sticky day out at French Park in Plymouth, MN - but was great to see everyone who came out!! Here are the families who gathered on Saturday:

Doris (Sanner) Baker's Family

Clayton Sanner's Family

Floyd Sanner's Family

Glenn Sanner's Family

Allen Sanner's Family

Royce Sanner's Family

Muriel (Sanner) Keil's Family

Check back for more photos, information on Steve's photos, Denise's video, and info on 2013's reunion!!

Reunion T-Shirts

2010-04-05T19:53:00.005-05:00

Hopefully you are all busy filling out your Reunion RSVPs so we can start to plan for the number of Sanners and friends that will be attending the reunion!!

Here are some EXAMPLES of what the AWESOME (yes - you totally gotta have one!) Sanner Reunion T-Shirts will look like! (Black printing will be used - except for the dark colors (black, navy, purple) where white printing will be used.)

Adult sizes XS - XL = $7; 2XL = $8; 3XL = $9

Youth sizes XS(2/4) - XL(18/20) = $7

Onesie sizes Newborn - 24mo = $7

Romper sizes 6mo - 24mo = $8

Special Notes:

**Each family's shirt will be a different color:
Eunice's = Purple
Doris' = Black
Clayton's = Kelly Green
Floyd's = Navy Blue
Glenn's = Iris Blue
Allen's = Sky Blue
Carol's = Daisy Yellow
Royce's = Violet
Muriel's = Sport Grey
Lowell's = Orange
Friends of Sanners = Red

**Larger sizes may be available - the color just may not be EXACT - for additional cost (I believe 4XL is $10, 5XL is $11) If you have additional sizing needs - PLEASE let me know - this guy is AWESOME to work with - and he'll make it happen!!

**Please send your T-shirt orders in with your RSVP to Denis Safranek by April 30th - but feel free to email me (Carrie) with any T-shirt questions! keezah73@yahoo.com

See you SOON!!

Cousin Carrie

January Sanner Reunion Planning Meeting

2010-01-13T07:35:00.002-06:00

Here's a picture of cousins working on planning for our July reunion:
(Bob took the picture so he's not shown)

(Seated L-R) Denise Safranek, Juli Sanner, Patti Sanner, Jennifer Sanner
(Standing L-R) Susan Christenson, John Sanner, Carrie Jerome, Michelle Sanner
Steven Sanner, Jeanne Bright, Tom Baker

January 2010 Meeting

Bob & Sue's house

Attendees: Tom Baker, Jeanne Bright, Denise Safranek, Patti Sanner, Jennifer Sanner, Michelle Sanner, Juli & John Sanner, Carrie Jerome, Steven Sanner, Bob & Sue Christenson

The group met with renewed excitement to plan for our reunion now less than six short months away. We were happy to see Jeanne Bright and John & Juli Sanner.

Steven and Sue reported hearing from several who are planning to attend the reunion. There are still a few "Save the Date" cards to send to members of the Ole Sanner family. Mark Sanner e-mailed a genealogy chart to be updated. Susan will attach it to the minutes. Please e-mail Mark with any updates.

Patti secured the Moraine Space at Clifton E. French Park, 12605 Rockford Road, Plymouth, MN 55441 for our Saturday, July 3rd gathering at a cost of $268. Thanks, Patti, for your hard work to secure the perfect spot for the pot luck!

Tom and Kathy Baker visited a restaurant in Hugo that would accommodate 50-80 dinner guests for our Friday evening dinner. The restaurant would give our group three entree choices (beef, chicken, and pasta) at a reasonable cost ($12-$14). We do want to know if the restaurant will provide kids' meals at a lower cost, and whether or not they have patio seating or how they might accommodate more than 80 people. We decided to have a social hour from 5-6 p.m. and dinner at 6. Tom and Jeanne will also check out a banquest site in Coon Rapids prior to our next meeting.

We talked about how to make the pot luck on Saturday successful. We will purchase paper/plastic dinnerware and a cold drink, e.g. McDonalds Orange Drink. Those attending from out-of-town will have the option of donating money to buy pop, chips, or other supplies. Some ideas for games include volleyball, sack game (we will request those who own this game to bring it on Saturday), Bocce Ball, water balloon toss, craft table, and, of course, cards!! Juli volunteered that Nick Sanner could put together a Sack Toss tournament. Bob and Sue will bring a sound system to use for announcements, etc. Carrie will check with Mary Jo or Lon about getting playing cards. We also discussed any "must have" dishes for pot luck, such as potato sausage and potato hot dish. Does potato sausage even taste the same in the summertime? There will be a craft table for the youngest children. Patti assured the group there is playground equipment, too.

John provided an update for the Friday evening program. It appears he and Brad Keil made extensive plans to properly entertain everyone. According to John, Brad has volunteered to emcee the evening. Actually, John has not spoken to Brad, but did have lots of great ideas for the program Friday evening. We think it's important to have some genealogy/history as past of the program alson with "You know you're a Sanner if......." statements, and family trivia. Awards will be given out for the person traveling the farthest, oldest, youngest, etc.

Jennifer and Carrie are working on securing t-shirts and buttons color coded by family member. Buttons will be given to each participant and t-shirts will be ordered as a part of the RSVP and paid for at that time. Carrie thought the cost would be approximately $6-$7 each.

Denise has received some pictures for the CD/DVD. She did put a plea for pictures on the blog. We talked about including pictures taken during the July reunion on the CD/DVD that Denise will create.

Pictures will be taken at 11 a.m. on Saturday at the park. Steven has volunteered to take the photos and put them on his website so reunion participants can order any pictures they would like from him. So nice to have a professional photographer in the family!

The next communication will go out in February with the RSVP. Susan will have a letter ready to be sent by the next planning meeting.

Our next planning meeting will be held on Wednesday, Feb. 10th at 7 p.m. at Bob & Sue's house. All cousins are invited to attend and offer suggestions/support/or, in Brad's case, his own defense!

Potato Dumplings

2010-01-01T12:27:00.006-06:00

Potato dumplings are an Oscar Sanner family favorite. Oscar and Clara made them often for their large family.

Making Potato Dumplings

It all starts with the recipe:
(According to Floyd and Peggy and Glenn and Harriet)

You will need at least two roasting pans filled to one third with simmering water.

Ingredients:
5 pounds of red potatoes
2 cups whole wheat or graham flour
2 large yellow or white onions
white flour - enough to make dumplings stay together when placed in simmering water
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Grind peeled potatoes and peeled onions and mix with the rest of the ingredients. Place dumpling on slotted spoon that has been dipped in boiling water. Place dumpling carefully into simmering water and leave it long enough to "set" before stacking dumplings in roasting pan(s).
Simmer at least one hour at 350F. Serve with side pork or thin pork chops and water gravy made from the pork. Season gravy with salt and pepper. Add "Kitchen Bouquet" for color and taste, if needed.

Hints: It works best to mix the dumpling mixture with your clean hands.

Peggy instrucing Dolores on how small to cut the potatoes to fit in the grinder?

Floyd and Al doing the grinding

Dolores makes another version of potato dumplings to which she adds Allspice. We guess that Oscar and Clara had many recipe alterations over the years.

Potatoes, onions, salt and pepper.

Ready to add the flour.

Muriel, Dennis, Susan, Dolores and Allen looking at some old pictures Muriel brought. (See recent blog)

Placing the dumplings into the simmering water.

Looking at the old pictures

Placing and moving the dumplings is a delicate process. Peggy instructing Susan to make sure dumplings aren't moved before they are set.

Muriel and Dennis

Oh, yes, the cards. A game of "Nickels" may be a more recent Sanner tradition.

Floyd, Peggy, Jan, Royce, Dennis, Muriel, Dolores, and Al

Pictures and Newspaper Articles

2010-01-01T11:12:00.032-06:00

Recently Muriel and Dennis Keil visited us. Muriel had received some old scrapbook pictures and articles from Leona Goodhard who currently lives in Surprise, Arizona.

We scanned all the pictures and articles; some are very familiar and some we have no clue but included them anyway for the rest of you to review. To the extent we can, we'll add what information we know.

Finally, this blog is an excellent way to share some truly special stuff!

Clara (Hermanson) Sanner
We have heard so many wonderful stories about Clara. This picture was cropped from one of the other pictures to show a very neat picture of her.

Doris, Clara, Eunice, and Oscar Sanner

Clayton Sanner

Doris (Sanner) Baker

Doris, Eunice, Clayton

Floyd Sanner

Crow Valley, Luzon

July, 145

Oscar and Clara Sanner

Johanne's Home in Canada (Not sure who this is)

Ernest Tonder ?

Lester Tonder ?

Lila Redland ?

Loyd Carlson ?

Verna Isaacson

Newspaper Articles

Royce Sanner

Former publisher of the Lake Bronson Budget

Big Baby Review - Halma/Lake Bronson

Perry Graves (Originally from Lake Bronson)

Allen Lee, Wheel Chair Evangelist

We hope you enjoy these and also hope you will add additional pictures, articles, etc.

Happy New Year!

Bob & Sue

Family Photos Needed

2009-12-10T11:54:00.004-06:00

We are in the process of putting together a photo slide show for everyone to view at the reunion in July. We need lots of photos and videos from all branches of the family as soon as possible. This one was taken in 1966 at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis.

While you are gathering for the holidays, spend some time pulling out your favorite pictures/videos. Old photos are especially fun, pictures from past reunions, holidays, weddings, other family gatherings or visits are good too.

If it's a photo that brings back a great memory, then send it to us!

We would like these photos in digital format; on a CD, flash drive or by e-mail. If you need help converting pictures to digital, just let me know.

Send them to:

Denise Safranek

denise@4peaksmarketing.com

P.O. Box 117, Annandale, MN 55302

Phone: 320.274.3727

Merry Christmas To All!

October Meeting

2009-10-22T11:22:00.003-05:00

2010 Oscar Sanner Reunion Planning Meeting
October 21, 2009
Sue & Bob’s House

Attendees: Tom Baker, Denise Safranek, Patty Sanner, Carrie Jerome, Jennifer Sanner, Michelle Sanner, Bob & Sue Christenson

I continue to be amazed at the talent and dedication of this group of cousins & niece!

Patty had prepared a “Save the Date” card and showed it to us prior to ordering 100 cards. When the cards arrive, Bob and Sue will get them sent. That should be very easy since Steven has done a wonderful job of collecting addresses and putting them in an excel spreadsheet, and Denise had run off labels.

Denise brought a scrapbook of information collected from prior Sanner Reunions. So much great information… it prompted us with more ideas for the upcoming reunion.

Carrie has created a Sanner Family Stories blog (click here to see it). Our hope is that family members will be able to get information about the reunion from the site, and also, after the reunion, we will continue to share Sanner information at this site. Some examples might be pictures (old and new), family history, stories, etc. Please check out the blog. Thanks, Carrie!

Carrie and Lonny II will work on a logo for t-shirts or anything else. They have a contact who can provide inexpensive, but nice t-shirts.

We continued a discussion about a good location for the dinner and program. Tom has checked out several locations and has a couple more he wants to contact. Those he’s contacted: Shoreview Community Center, Old Country Buffet, Osseo & Champlain American Legions, Boston Market, and 2 churches. He also talked with a caterer his company has used and will check out the location he suggested, The Blue Heron. Tom is also going to check out Kozlak’s. We agreed we need to make a decision prior to sending out a letter requesting RSVPs. We also agreed to try to keep the cost reasonable in an effort to attract younger families and we think it would be best if we could give family members 2 or 3 entrée choices. We will vote via e-mail on selection of site for dinner and program.

We unanimously chose Brad Keil and John Sanner as co-chairpersons for entertainment. We can’t wait to see what/who they come up with! We are sure to be entertained!
Patty and Jennifer graciously volunteered to work on games and kids activities for Saturday. They will enlist the help of one of the young moms to help them.
Our next meeting which is open to anyone wishing to be part of the planning for the reunion will be Wednesday, January 6th at 7pm at Bob and Sue’s (12142 Radisson Road NE, Blaine, MN 55449 – 763-755-7712).

Thanks so much to everyone for the wonderful contributions!

- submitted by Sue Christenson

Family Reunion Planning Meeting #2

2009-09-23T22:04:00.001-05:00

2010 Oscar Sanner Reunion Planning Meeting
– Sept. 23, 2009 – Sue & Bob’s House

Attendees: Tom Baker, Denise Safranek, Patty Sanner, Carrie Jerome, Jennifer Sanner, Michelle Sanner, Steve Sanner, Bob & Sue Christenson

We’re getting closer….lots of great work was done in the past month by this group of cousins (with lots of help). Here’s the update:

•We are ready to send out “save the date” cards letting family know our reunion will be held in the Twin Cities metro area July 2nd and 3rd.

•Friday evening we will have a catered dinner gathering with time for socializing. Tom had checked on several options and Bob volunteered to check on a caterer he knows. Tom will continue to explore more options for the dinner (place and menu) now that we know the exact date. He, too, has a contact used by his company.

•Patty has checked several metro area parks. We will be able to reserve a park after January 1st. She is “on it”!

•Jennifer brought a DVD of “old” movies taken over many years by her parents. We will want to play this during the reunion events.

•Jennifer also brought prototypes of buttons for the reunion which could be color-coded per family. We will certainly have buttons. Some families may choose to have shirts, too. Carrie knows a person who will silk screen or print shirts very reasonably.

•Denise is requesting appropriate pictures (digital, if possible) from anyone who has them and she will compile all of them on a DVD.

•Steve is working to get all families’ addresses and other contact information.

We discussed the need for pre-registration for the reunion so we will be able to accurately anticipate the number of people at each event.

We thought it a good idea to invite Sanner cousins like Ellen & Verna’s families, Amie, and possibly others. We will talk with those older and wiser than we are to determine who all should be invited.

We talked about games – should we have a bowling event or horseshoe tournament? How about an arts and crafts area for the youngest generation? Maybe a scavenger hunt would be fun as a way for younger family members to know older members. How about a game with pictures of each generation and the generation below would have to identify the pictures? We talked about enlisting the help of a few people to come up with fun ideas for activities/games.

We asked the question…How often should we have a Sanner Family Reunion – every 3-5 years? Maybe once we get this one organized, the next one would be easier…
Carrie volunteered to get a Sanner Family Reunion Blog started to keep family informed about the upcoming reunion.

Thanks to everyone for the great work! We will meet again on Wednesday, October 21st at 7pm at Sue & Bob’s to continue the planning process. ALL COUSINS/SPOUSES/SIGNIFICANT OTHERS ARE WELCOME! THE MORE IDEAS THE BETTER THE END PRODUCT!

-Susan Christenson

First Sanner Reunion Meeting

2009-08-26T21:59:00.002-05:00

2010 Oscar Sanner Family Reunion Planning Meeting
– August 26, 2009

Attendees: Tom Baker, Steve Sanner, Denise and Al Safranek, Patti Sanner, Jennifer Sanner, Michelle Sanner, Bob and Sue Christenson

A great group of can-do/will-do cousins gathered at Bob and Sue’s to get the ball rolling for a Sanner Reunion next summer. According to Michelle, who archives events through scrapbooking, summer of 1993 was our last reunion. Uffda! That’s just too long!

We made some decisions and cousins accepted some assignments to get us to the next step. Here’s what we decided…

•We are focused on the 4th of July weekend, depending on availability of sites for an evening dinner and a park to accommodate our group for a day of fun and visiting.

•Once we know the exact dates, we will send out a “save the date” card or letter.

•Steve volunteered to work with Dolores to get all the needed addresses.

•Patty will check on parks in the metro area that would work for our group.

•Tom is checking on possible sites for an evening dinner.

•Denise volunteered to begin working on a DVD of family pictures that could play during our reunion.

•We will need means of identification. Jennifer volunteered to come up with some ideas. We discussed buttons and also having each family wear the same color as another means of identification.

•We talked about some games that would engage the younger generation.

•We discussed the possibility of having prizes – we would need to ask for donations of items or $$ to purchase these.

•All of us will benchmark with other successful family reunions to get ideas, i.e., the Wilebski clan.

•We stopped short of assigning Brad Keil with entertainment chair. Hopefully he and Heidi will be able to make it to our next meeting.

I think we accomplished a lot for our first meeting. We will start on the above assignments and touch base via email with what we are finding. We will meet again on Wednesday, September 23rd @ 7:00pm at Bob and Sue’s. ALL COUSINS ARE INVITED TO ATTEND. We also had fun just catching up…did you know Steve Sanner is a professional photographer?....or that Patti is driving the free State Fair Trolley during the fair?

Hope to see you at our next meeting.

Sue Christenson