Irene A. (Stewart) Baden, 95, Sartell (formerly of St. Joseph)

July 7, 1925 - August 21, 2020

Memorial Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, August 31, 2020 at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church in St. Cloud for Irene A. (Stewart) Baden, age 95, of Sartell and formerly of St. Joseph, who passed away on Friday, August 21, 2020 at the Country Manor Campus in Sartell. Reverend Greg Sauer will officiate. Burial of the urn will be in Assumption Cemetery in St. Cloud.

Visitation will be held from 4:00 p.m. until 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, August 30, 2020 at the Daniel Funeral Home, St. Cloud and from 9:30 a.m. until the time of the service on Monday at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church. Parish prayers will be held at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday at the Daniel Funeral Home, St. Cloud.

Irene was born on July 29, 1925 to Harry and Loretta (Duhin) Stewart in Virginia, Minnesota. Her family, originally from the Granite Ledge-Foley area, returned when she was still quite young. From there, they moved to St. Cloud, where Irene graduated from St. Cloud Technical High School in 1943. She was united in marriage to Edward J. Baden of Litchfield, Minnesota on June 2, 1947 at St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud. They lived in St. Paul and Austin, Minnesota for a short time. When Ed was called back into military service during the Korean War, they lived in Champaign, Illinois and Riverside, California. In 1953, they returned to the St. Cloud area. They moved to Kraemer Lake, St. Joseph, Minnesota, in 1965 where they spent 21 glorious years. In 1986, they left the lake and moved to St. Cloud. Ed passed away in 1996. Irene lived in St. Cloud until moving to Country Manor’s Senior Housing in Sartell in 2019.

Before her children were born, Irene worked for a St. Cloud attorney, the Benton County Attorney, an insurance company and a CPA.

Irene was an artist, her specialty being oils. She was a member of the Tuesday Brush and Palette Club, formerly known as the Tuesday Morning Oil Painters, since 1979. She had numerous art shows at various venues including Whitney Community Center, St. Cloud’s Radio City Music Hall and Great River Regional Library. She and her husband were avid square dancers and for many years were members of the Gadabouts. Even though Ed and Irene lived on a lake, they loved traveling and camping and spent many weekends during the year away from home at various campgrounds.

Irene was a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren. She will be remembered for her unwavering faith in God and her religion, her quick and sassy wit, love of cardinals, great cooking (especially her potato salad and ham salad), her phenomenal Easter egg hunts that kept even the adult grandchildren searching her apartment for hours, and her love of family and friends.

She is survived by her children, Mary Sheryl Good of St. Cloud and Lori Koop of Minneapolis; grandchildren, Jennifer (Travis) Birr, Candace (Anthony) Ballstadt, Katie (Cameron) Olson, Ashley (Michael) Skaggs, Katherine (Charles) Paurus, Patrick Koop, and Kanae (Eiji) Nakano; 13 great-grandchildren; sister, Dorothy Doerner and many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.

Irene is preceded in death by her parents; husband, Edward; sister and brother-in-law, Marjorie (Jack) Olson; and brother-in-law, George Doerner.

A special thank you to the staff of Country Manor Campus and St. Croix Hospice for their loving and compassionate care of Irene.