Nannie (Nan) Lee Briesemeister passed away on April 8, 2024 at Fairview Ridges Hospital in Burnsville, MN. Nan was born in 1931, in Richland County, South Carolina and raised by her adoptive mother, Modena Windham. She and her mother lived in Lamar, South Carolina and moved to the Charleston area during WWII, where Nan found work to support them. During that time a young sailor danced into her heart. Norman Briesemeister and Nan were wed in Charleston at St. Matthew's Lutheran Church on New Year's Eve, 1946. Norman and Nan were married for sixty-seven years and raised six children, three girls and three boys. Their life together brought them from east coast to west coast while Norman served in the Navy, to a small farm in Pine City, Minnesota, and later years to Pascagoula, Mississippi. Norman passed away in 2013. In 2015 Nan married Guido Kauls and they enjoyed life in Minneapolis together until her passing. Nan was loved by everyone who had the good fortune to know her and was the matriarch for a large extended family. She is also preceded in death by her daughter-in-law, Colleen Briesemeister, and sons-in-law James Behm and John Cepeda. Nan is survived by her husband, Guido Kauls; her children: sons, Edward (Gwen), John (Sophie), and Alan (Cindy); daughters, Katherine Behm, Karen (John Onken), and Kaye Cepeda; and she tended to twenty-one grandchildren and thirty-four great grandchildren. Nan's Memorial Service will be May 18 at 3 p.m. at St. Peders Lutheran Church, 4600 E. 42nd St., Minneapolis with a luncheon to follow. The service will be live streamed through YouTube/ St. Peders Lutheran Church. Memorials preferred to the Salvation Army or Smile Train. cremationsocietyofmn.com

Published on April 21, 2024