Teacher > "Andy" Karlsgodt 12.04.12

       Eindride "Andy" Karlsgodt, 86, passed away at his home this past Tuesday, December 4, 2012. He received excellent care from hospice services and his wife and nurse, Donna.

Andy was born in Minneapolis on April 23, 1926 to Herman and Anna Karlsgodt. They moved to Akeley in 1928. Andy graduated from Akeley High School in 1944 and joined the Navy. He served as a gunner in a dive-bomber until his discharge in 1946. He later joined the Air Force Reserves and proudly served for 42 years.
Andy graduated from Bemidji State College in 1953 with majors in English, social studies and humanities. During the spring of his senior year while playing golf in St. Cloud for the college team, the superintendent of the Alexandria schools met him on the first tee and Andy signed his first teaching contract. For the next 30 years, he taught English, social studies, best sellers, journalism and aviation classes in Alexandria. He wrote a curriculum for the aviation class and submitted it to the state of Minnesota and they approved it. Several schools used his curriculum throughout the state.
Andy received his master’s degree from NDSU. He served as the president of the Alexandria Teachers Association and was very active in the local chapter of Civil Air Patrol. For 35 years, Andy was a crop, hail and wind insurance adjuster.
On retirement, Donna and Andy spent many winters working with Wycliff Bible translators at the JAARS aviation center in South Carolina, at the linguistic center in Dallas and at the Mexican center in Catalina, Arizona. Andy went on several mission trips to South Africa, Mexico and Ecuador. He was very active in the inception of Grace Church in Alexandria. He served as church chairman and in numerous other capacities. He was an active Gideon and very proud of their ministry. Both Andy and Donna served Trout Lake Bible Camp for many years as volunteers preparing the camp, grounds and cabins for the summer ministries.
Andy was also very proud of his Norwegian heritage. He actively traced his genealogy, compiling a very thorough family tree and history. He was a member of the Valdres Samband, serving as president and as a member of the advisory council. He traveled to Norway four times, tracing his family tree and connecting with family from the "old" country.
He loved the outdoors, spending many days at his tree farm at Nevis. Deer hunting was a passion and he never missed a season, including this year, when under hospice care, he still managed to get "up in his stand" for a weekend. Creating grouse habitat and managing the land was as good as it got for Andy.
Family was very important to Andy. He loved traditions and passing along his Christian values, heritage and love of the outdoors. He was a staunch advocate of higher education and very proud of his family's academic pursuits as well as their athletic and musical accomplishments. One of his most special holiday activities was singing around the piano with the family.
He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Donna; children, Terry (Jane) of Atwater, Julie (Brent) Bostrom of Bloomington, IL, Sara (Dean) Palermo of Ramsey, and Kevin of San Antonio, TX; 16 grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
Funeral services were held Monday, December 10 from Grace Church in Alexandria. Interment was at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis.