Glenn W. Ireland, 95, Sauk Rapids

September 10, 1926 - December 22, 2021

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Glenn William Ireland Jr. devoted son, husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, friend, and proud Sheet Metal Worker of Union Local 10. We could also say he may have been the last of the old cowboys.

Glenn was born September 10, 1926 in Granite Falls to Glenn & Agnes (Fundisland) Ireland, Sr. He married Clara Jones on January 18, 1948 in Bird Island. Glenn was a Sheet Metal Worker for Weidner’s, Phillips Heating, Park Sheet Metal, and Fran Heating. He was a member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Sauk Rapids and Sheet Metal Workers Union #10 where he was a Business Agent for 13 years.

Glenn was a talented singer and songwriter. He lived with his heart full and expressed it through his music. He was a talented artist. He was a builder and generally good at anything he put his hands to. He was a reader and studied subjects most people had lost interest in. He was interesting. He was proud and strong and opinionated. He lived his life by a code that could not be understood by a modern generation.

He loved the West. He loved its history and legends. Its long dusty roads. Its museums. Its wild land and ruggedness. He lived to be a cowboy and often told stories about breaking wild horses. He was a dreamer who never lost his childhood spirit and love for life.

He was devoted to our mother and spent the last years of his life by her side as she slipped further into dementia. She was forever his girlfriend. She was the last thing he looked at before taking his final breath and he will wait for his Clara-Bell to join him. He was one of a kind. He will be forever cherished and loved and, like a ghost on the wind, he will be with us forever.

Survivors include his wife, Clara of Sauk Rapids; daughters and sons, Barb (Ted) Plantenberg of St. Cloud, Greg (Teri) of Rice, Michael (Debbie) of Stillwater, Sandy of Sauk Rapids and Brad (Cecily) of Minneapolis; brother, Verlin of St. George, UT; eleven grandchildren and seventeen great grandchildren. Glenn was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Virginia Balderston; and granddaughters, Tricia and Jennifer Plantenberg.

Funeral Services will be 1:00 p.m. Thursday, December 30, 2021 at Williams Dingmann Family Funeral Home in Sauk Rapids. Chaplain Lisa Lynott-Carroll will officiate and burial will be at Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Sauk Rapids. Visitation will be from 4-7 p.m. Wednesday and one hour prior to the services Thursday at the funeral home in Sauk Rapids.

The family would like to thank Moments Hospice and the staff at Ridgeview Place.

“There goes a spotted stallion with an empty saddle, hoof beats a poundin’ on the trail, He’ll stop a while and listen then he’ll gallop on waiting for his master’s command. The Lord upstairs took his master, took him faraway, and left the spotted stallion for another day…” Glenn Ireland