John W. Bangsund, St. Cloud, 78

July 25, 1936 - September 6, 2014

A gathering of family and friends will be from 2:00-4:00PM Friday, September 12, 2014 at the Williams Dingmann Family Funeral Home, Sauk Rapids for John W. Bangsund, 78, of St. Cloud who died Saturday, September 6, 2014 at the St. Cloud Hospital.

John was born July 25, 1936 in Two Harbors to William and Isabelle (Atkins) Bangsund. He was born into a family of commercial fisherman; and continued the love of being on the water throughout his life. John was the first graduate of the instrumentation apprenticeship program for the local mining company in Silver Bay. He became a teacher at St. Cloud Community and Technical College, teaching industrial instrumentation; over the summers he worked for the Sartell Paper Mill, which eventually became his fulltime job until his retirement. John married LaVonne (Lieske) Holm in August of 1974 in St. Cloud. The couple enjoyed traveling; especially to Nova Scotia, Los Angeles and the Black Hills. John and LaVonne also enjoyed spending time on Lake Superior where John captained his boat “The Nickolina.” He enjoyed woodworking; making furniture and toys for his grandchildren. John enjoyed life and lived each day to the fullest.

He is survived by his children, Tim (Pat) of Lakeville, Terry Markovich of Punta Gorda, FL, Jackie Connor of Chisholm; step children, Perry (Sheri) Holm of Fergus Falls, Jaye “Judy” (Theodore Durbin) Lawrence of Northfield; siblings, Linda Burtzel of Two Harbors, Nancy Carter of Central Lakes, Donna Meullerleile of Babbitt and Robert; eight grandchildren and several great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents; wife, LaVonne; and siblings, Jim and Bill.