{"id":15414,"date":"2026-01-31T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/?p=15414"},"modified":"2026-01-30T08:01:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T14:01:59","slug":"thief-river-falls-man-gerald-sanders-dies-at-90","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/thief-river-falls-man-gerald-sanders-dies-at-90\/","title":{"rendered":"Thief River Falls Man Gerald Sanders Dies at 90"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thief River Falls (trfnews.i234.me)\u00a0<\/a> Gerald William Sanders<\/strong>, 90, of Thief River Falls, Minnesota, died on January 26, 2026.
\nHe died at\u00a0Sanford Health in Thief River Falls<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Life in Thief River Falls<\/h2>\n

Sanders was born on February 4, 1935.
\nHe spent his life in Thief River Falls.
\nHe attended country school and Lincoln High School.<\/p>\n

Family members said he loved the outdoors.
\nHe enjoyed mowing lawns and planting gardens.
\nHe also built flower beds and cared for them.<\/p>\n

Work and Community<\/h2>\n

Over the years, Sanders held several jobs.
\nHe sang in a band, farmed, and sold cars.
\nHe also worked at Northern Pride.
\nHe later worked for the City of Thief River Falls.
\nHe served in the Park and Recreation Department.<\/p>\n

In later years, he helped at an outdoor warming house.
\nHe liked seeing kids skate and play hockey.
\nHe enjoyed talking with families there.<\/p>\n

\"Gerald
Gerald William Sanders<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Music, Travel, and Traditions<\/h2>\n

Sanders was a steady supporter of music.
\nHis family said he went to many band concerts.
\nHe also attended summer marching band events.<\/p>\n

He often traveled to the\u00a0Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag<\/a>.
\nCollecting toy tractors became a yearly tradition there.
\nHis family said the trip grew into a long-running reunion.<\/p>\n

Those gatherings included time with his grandchildren.
\nThey often shared pizza and swimming parties.
\nThe family said the tradition lasted about 18 years.<\/p>\n

Hobbies and Local Life<\/h2>\n

Sanders enjoyed deer hunting and ice fishing.
\nHe also fished during the summer at Lake of the Woods.
\nLearn more about the area at\u00a0Lake of the Woods Tourism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He collected coins and followed football.
\nHis family said he also liked going to fall dinners with his wife.
\nThey enjoyed talking about local events and news.<\/p>\n

Survivors and Those Who Died Before Him<\/h2>\n

Sanders is survived by his wife, Marie Sanders.
\nHe is also survived by his son, Scott Sanders.
\nHe is survived by his daughter, Jaynae (Jason) Haugen.
\nHis grandchildren are Kaylee Haugen, Grace Haugen, and Matthew Haugen.<\/p>\n

He is also survived by his brother, DelRay (Diane) Sanders.
\nHe is survived by his sister, Sharon Dawson.
\nHe is also survived by his brother-in-law, Jeff (Nancy) Stanina.
\nThe family said many nieces and nephews also survive him.<\/p>\n

He was preceded in death by his parents, William and Mabel Sanders.
\nHe was preceded in death by an infant sister, Marilyn Sanders.
\nHe was also preceded in death by his grandparents, Sanders and Isaacson.<\/p>\n

He was preceded in death by his mother-in-law, Ann Stanina.
\nHe was preceded in death by his father-in-law, Walter Stanina.
\nHe was preceded in death by sisters-in-law Sandra (Haven) Johnson and Shirley Stanina.
\nHe was preceded in death by a brother-in-law, Gary Dawson.<\/p>\n

Service Plans and Thanks<\/h2>\n

A Celebration of Life is planned for June.
\nThe date and location will be announced later.<\/p>\n

The family thanked doctors, nurses, hospice staff, and home health staff.
\nThey also thanked EMS and first responders.
\nThey thanked the staff at Sanford Hospital in Thief River Falls.
\nThe family said the care helped keep him comfortable.<\/p>\n

\n

I’m Chris Harper reporting for\u00a0TRF News<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thief River Falls (trfnews.i234.me)\u00a0 Gerald William Sanders, 90, of Thief River Falls, Minnesota, died on January 26, 2026. He died at\u00a0Sanford Health in Thief River Falls. Life in Thief River Falls Sanders was born on February 4, 1935. He spent his life in Thief River Falls. He attended country school and Lincoln High School. Family… Continue reading Thief River Falls Man Gerald Sanders Dies at 90<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_wpscp_schedule_draft_date":"","_wpscp_schedule_republish_date":"","_wpscppro_advance_schedule":false,"_wpscppro_advance_schedule_date":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[12],"tags":[2997,609,772,2996,2623,827,1991,5196,11663,151,818,751,946,824,4869,1098,825,778],"class_list":["post-15414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime","tag-celebration-of-life","tag-community","tag-crime","tag-death-notice","tag-dies","tag-falls","tag-family","tag-gerald","tag-gerald-william-sanders","tag-man","tag-minnesota","tag-obituary","tag-polk-county","tag-river","tag-sanders","tag-sanford-hospital","tag-thief","tag-thief-river-falls","entry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15414"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15415,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15414\/revisions\/15415"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trfnews.i234.me\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}