She co-owned and operated Cragun's Resort on Gull Lake, one of the biggest resorts in Minnesota. She traveled all over the world, won a philanthropy award ... and could get excited about shopping at a Dollar Tree.

Irma Cragun's sense of fun also encompassed sailing, dancing, cooking and riding in flashy sports cars, such as friend Gary Harris' vintage red Corvette.

"The last time was late in the fall of 2020 on a crisp 40-degree sunny day," Harris said. "Off we went on a ride supposedly to the resort, which turned into a complete road trip around Gull Lake, top down and Irma grinning the entire time with her hands holding onto her floppy brimmed hat."

Cragun died on Jan. 10 at her home in East Gull Lake, Minn. Her husband, Merrill (widely known as "Dutch"), was with her. She was 87 and had multiple health problems.

She was born Irma Culos in Powell River, B.C., in Canada and attended nursing school at St. Paul Hospital in Vancouver. She worked as a registered nurse in Powell River, then moved to San Francisco, where she worked as a nurse and met Dutch Cragun at a dance. They married in 1965 and settled in Brainerd, where Dutch's family owned a resort. She continued nursing at St. Joseph's Hospital in Brainerd before devoting herself full time to Cragun's.

She helped guide the expansion of the resort from 12 cabins and 10 rooms to 69 cabins, 200 hotel rooms, nearly a mile of Gull Lake shoreline and several golf courses totaling 54 holes. She was deeply involved in the operation, including the dining hall, Harris said.

"She developed the recipes for the lodge; they cooked Irma's pot roast and things like this," he said. "Their stuff is delicious."

Harris and his wife, Sharon, were casual acquaintances of the Craguns until about a decade ago, when they asked about Irma's plans for Christmas. She said she'd be spending it at the resort, as usual, with her staff and guests.

"We said, why don't you come to our house and they accepted," Gary Harris said. The couples became close and continued to get together for holidays, birthdays and other occasions.

In a eulogy, Sharon recalled a time she and Irma decided, on a whim, to visit a Dollar Tree store.

"I had to use the restroom and told Irma to look around and I would be right back," Sharon said. "When I got back, here stands Irma with her arms around two dozen items. 'I can't believe I got all these for $1!' This woman, who has ridden a camel by the pyramids in Egypt, was having the time of her life at the Dollar Tree!"

Irma and Dutch were members of a Brainerd-area dance club. She established the Heartland Symphony Orchestra Ladies Auxiliary, and the couple traveled all over the world, visiting dozens of countries and most continents.

She was known for her generosity. She regularly contributed to more than 35 charities, said Eric Peterson, general manager of the resort. She received the 2019 Award in Philanthropy from the Brainerd Lakes Area Community Foundation.

In 2016, she designed a new home for herself and Dutch across the lake from the resort, where they could gaze out and see what they'd built.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by two brothers, Kenneth and Wayne Culos, both of Powell River. Services have been held.