Amy Christine Gjesdal

Amy Christine Gjesdal, age 85, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Monday, March 16, 2026 at home with her daughters caring for her.

Amy was born on October 5, 1940 at home on a farm in the Haggstrom District, east of Kinistino, SK. She was the oldest child of Vernon and Della Haugerud. She had two younger brothers; Glen and Earl.

She attended the Haggstrom School which was a one-room country school house where one teacher taught all eight grades. From there, they moved to Beatty, SK in 1953. She graduated Grade 12 in 1959 in Kinistino, SK. After graduation she started work in the Melfort Royal Bank for 10 years before transferring to the main branch of the Royal Bank in Calgary. 

After a brief courtship, she married Alfred Gjesdal on July 26, 1969 in Melfort, SK. They lived in the Weldon area, starting out on the family farm. They had three children; Valerie, Marvin and Pamela. They lost their son Marvin at the age of 6 as result of a heart defect since birth. In 1984, they purchased mom's dream house in Weldon where they lived until they moved to Saskatoon in 1995 to work.

In 1990, mom began working as a Special Care Aide at the Jubilee Lodge in Kinistino. She was passionate about her work and enjoyed caring for the seniors in the Lodge. When they moved to Saskatoon, she continued her work first at Lutheran Sunset Home before finally settling in at Circle Drive Special Care Home which she enjoyed tremendously. She continued to work until age 70. In 2022 they sold their house to their daughter, Pam and moved into a condo at Circle Drive Place where they enjoyed an active social life and made many new friends.

Over the years, mom enjoyed many crafts and handwork, including crochet, Brazilian embroidery, Hardanger, and Pergamano to name a few. She also loved to sew and was quite proficient at it. She taught sewing classes, designed patterns and sewed outfits for her children and their Barbie dolls and made many quilts.

Another passion of mom's was genealogy and researching family history. She ended up publishing a few family history books including Mother's Ninety Years, a collection of poems and stories by her mom, Della Haugerud; Memories, The Leland Family for the family reunion in Weldon in 2002; The Letters, Rustand/Haugerud which told the history of the Rustand and Haugerud families back to the 1850's and early 1900's after finding letters the brothers wrote home to Norway of their adventures in the Yukon and Australia; Love and Laughter, a compilation of short stories submitted by members of the Selma Gjesdal family for a reunion in 2016; as well as cookbooks and our family trees for both sides. 

Alfred & Amy enjoyed their travels to Norway, Sweden, Costa Rica, China, Cuba, Europe, Caribbean, Alaska and the Maritimes. There were many camping trips with their children and memorable trips to Expo 86 and Disneyland. Other highlights included going up in a Hot Air Balloon, ziplining, canyoning and repelling down waterfalls in Costa Rica, walking hanging bridges over the rain forests, climbing part of the Great Wall of China to name a few. Mom kept journals of all their travels and created photo books for most of them. 

She is survived by her daughters, Pam Gjesdal & Valerie Braun; son-in-law, David Braun, Grandson Jordaan & Bailey Braun, Granddaughter Chelsea & Dominik Klassen, and Grandsons Nathan Braun and Noah Braun. She was looking forward to meeting her two great grandchildren in July & October 2026.  She is also survived by her brother Earl & Lil Haugerud, siblings-in-law Frances Haugerud, Marie Gjesdal, Alice Bourcier, Eileen Borelli, Eldon & Marj Gjesdal, Bettie & Wayne Tyndall, as well as numerous nieces and nephews.

She is predeceased by her husband of 55 years, Alfred Gjesdal, her son Marvin at age 6, her parents Vernon & Della Haugerud, Brother Glen Haugerud, Sister-in-law Vie Haugerud, mother-in-law Selma Gjesdal, siblings-in-law Helen & Gulfred Olsen, Raymond Gjesdal, Mae & Fanuel Lima, Albert Bourcier and Carmen Borelli.

The family wishes to thank everyone who sent messages and visited mom in her final days.  We also want to acknowledge all of her friends at Circle Drive Place and the Market Mall Coffee Crew who visited and checked in on her since dad's passing in April 2025. 

A special thanks to the Palliative Home Care team in Saskatoon who provided support to us so that we could fulfill Mom's final wish of being cared for at Pam's home until her passing. 

There will be a Memorial Service held for Amy on Saturday, March 21, at 2:00pm at Elim Church in the chapel (419 Slimmon Road, Saskatoon)

The family requests no perfume, lilies or baby's breath be brought into the church. Thank you for understanding.