Verna Van De Berg Sandbulte of Duluth, Minnesota died at the age of 92 on August 26, 2026.  Verna was born in Sioux Center, Iowa on May 3, 1934, to Henry and Della (Kroon) Van De Berg.  The second of eight children, she was raised on a farm near Sioux Center and graduated from Sioux Center High School in 1951.  She and her classmate Arend Sandbulte began dating during high school and married at the age of 19 in 1953.  Between 1955 and 1960, they had four children, Ruth, Greg, Kristin and Rachel.  During their marriage, they lived in Sioux Center and then Ames, Iowa, before moving to Minneapolis and in 1964 to Duluth.  Verna was reluctant to move to Duluth, where they knew no one, but she quickly assimilated into their new community.  She became actively involved in their church, Glen Avon Presbyterian Church, where she devoted thousands of hours in service over many years.  She loved Glen Avon and the lifelong friends they made there.  She also volunteered for and supported her community through many organizations, including the Miller Dwan Hospital Auxiliary, PEO, the Duluth Woman’s Club, the College of St. Scholastica Board of Trustees, the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra, and Girl Scouts.  Verna became a true Duluthian, and with gratitude she lived the remainder of her life there.

Verna was a social person who valued interpersonal connections.  She enjoyed meeting and working with people in many ways, and she had dear friends and family with whom she cherished time together.  She was a wonderful cook and gracious hostess, and she loved to welcome people into their home.  She wrote long weekly letters to her mother until her mother died at age 90, and she spoke frequently with her sisters in Iowa, always keeping in touch and close at heart.  She rarely forgot a birthday or other milestone in another’s life, and she sent thousands of cards and notes to family and friends until late in her life.  She was loyal and true to many.

As empty nesters and later in life, Verna and Arend spent many winters in Florida and traveled regularly.  They welcomed kids and grandkids to their homes in Florida and made countless visits to theme parks and the beach.  They explored most of the Lower 48, whale watched in Alaska, fished in Canada, relaxed in Hawaii, researched their roots in the Netherlands, and drove may hundreds of miles and cruised rivers in Europe.  They were fortunate to share time and many adventures together.

Verna was our mom, and she was completely devoted to our family.  She loved and supported our dad Arend throughout their courtship (which began with an arranged date at a church hymn sing at age 16) and their 73-year marriage.  She was a young mother to four, and we behaved like kids and teenagers and tried her patience at times, but she (with our dad) created a life and home in which we felt safe and knew we were loved.  In recent years, her health declined, slowly but steadily, and we gradually said goodbye to the woman we had known.  We are at a loss but also relieved now that she is at peace.  She was raised in a family and community of Christian faith, and she never lost her own faith.  Even as her health failed, her faith guided and sustained her and gave her strength.  We are thankful for that.

Verna is preceded in death by her parents Henry and Della Van De Berg; and her sons-in-law Arlan Peterson and Bruce Ostrander.

She is survived by her husband, Arend Sandbulte; son Greg (Cherri) Sandbulte and daughters Ruth Peterson, Kristin (Jeff) Melby and Rachel Ostrander; 14 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren; and many members of her extended family and friends.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 12:00 p.m., with a visitation beginning at 11:00 a.m., at Glen Avon Presbyterian Church, 2105 Woodland Avenue, Duluth, Minnesota 55803.  A light lunch will be served following the service.

We give heartfelt thanks to the staff at Ecumen Hospice and Ecumen Lakeshore for the kindness and dignity with which you treated Verna in her final years.  You made her life comfortable and peaceful, and we are forever thankful.

If desired, memorials are preferred to the College of St. Scholastica or Glen Avon Presbyterian Church.

Arrangements by Dougherty Funeral Home. 218-727-3555.

It’s back to school Tuesday for tens of thousands of students across the Twin Cities. Some schools did start early this year, but the state’s biggest districts — Anoka-Hennepin, Minneapolis and St. Paul — are now open.

St. Paul Public Schools

Leaders in St. Paul Public Schools say staffing is strong to start the year after years of significant staffing shortages across the state’s second largest district. 

The district serves 33,000 students across nearly 70 schools. And while the first day can be busy enough on its own, district leaders say it’s in a much better place when it comes to staffing. 

District leaders say they’ve spent the summer preparing, from leadership meetings to teacher training. When it comes to staffing, Superintendent Stacie Stanley says the numbers are a big improvement from the pandemic. What was once hundreds of openings is now dozens. 

Stanley reports strong staff retention and credits summer hiring fairs and recruiting efforts across the Twin Cities. She says it leaves the district feeling ready for the first day. 

“There was a point during COVID where St. Paul Public Schools had over 600 openings for staff members. We were down to less than 50,” Stanley said. “We are excited. We had strong retention across the board, had to make some tough decisions around enrollment losses that we had directly related to the surge last year, and still had to come back and make some hirings. We are in a really good place, really excited about that.”

Several metro districts have grappled with dropping enrollment following the immigration enforcement surge earlier this year, which in turn can impact budgets. In St. Paul, Stanley says the true impact won’t be felt until later this fall. 

In the weeks ahead of school starting, the district’s safety and security liaisons went through training.  Stanley says their focus isn’t just responding to a crisis, but building relationships with students before one happens. 

Stanley says last year’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement surge took a toll on everyone — students, families and staff — and it’s still being felt. 

“I will say we are still recovering, if you will, from the surge. You know there’s still that social-emotional aspect of that. Our teachers had a very tough year last year, our families, students and staff, and we’re recovering from that and taking care of one another and just wanting families to know that we are here for them,” Stanley said. “Community continues to link arms and to partner to make sure that every member of our school community is well taken care of.”

Stanley says the district is keeping a close eye on enrollment, and she expects a better picture of what that looks like by mid-October. There are also some exciting things in the works in the district, including the new AfroCentric Magnet Program launching this year at Benjamin E. Mays Schools.

Anoka-Hennepin School District

Classes are also now in session for around 38,000 students in the Anoka-Hennepin School District, which serves 13 suburban communities in the north metro.

Superintendent Greg Cole says the district is constantly looking at safety measures other districts are doing to see what works or what’s new in the industry. This year they are adding mobile surveillance units, which are essentially cameras mounted on trailers that can be moved around for large events, like football games.

“A mobile surveillance unit is essentially, it’s a camera in the skies, so to speak, on a trailer, and they’re mobile. You can take them from site to site. You sort of break them down and put them up at a different site. And really, they’re sort of the equivalent of when you see a police officer on the side of the road on a highway,” Cole said. “Just something for people’s awareness that we’re monitoring these large events just to ensure that they’re as safe as they can possibly be.”

Cole says a major goal this year for students surrounds reading and literacy skills. It has been six years since the pandemic really threw everything upside down for schools, and there were huge conversations about learning loss for students.

But Cole doesn’t feel like students need to catch up, but more so launch them forward. As the district prepared for the year, Cole says they spent a lot of time on teacher and staff development to focus on the recruitment and retention of staff, student engagement and preparing students for a rapidly changing world, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence. That is why reading and literacy skills are top goals for the school district this year.

“Reading is possibly the best weightlifting one can do for the brain and brain development, and we believe that that is something that our kids are really going to need in order to help them be cognitively agile and have the kind of emotional regulation that they’re going to need to manage all of the future changes that they’re going to face in a rapidly changing world,” he said.

As for why they are starting after Labor Day this year compared to other districts in the state, Cole says it’s part of their tradition and expectation for families to have that last break before school begins.

GREEN BAY (WLUK) — It is finally game week where every rep just means more. For the green and gold, this week comes with some pressure. And while the magnitude might be high, the Packers are trying not to make the moments too big.

No more Training Camp and going up against their teammates, it’s onto the regular season. Like last year, the Packers open up the year against a divisional opponent, this time it’s the Minnesota Vikings. If they want to see all that preparation this offseason come to life, they’ll have to be on their P’s and Q’s come Sunday.

“Coach always says it’s a two point swing in terms of the wins and losses for our division. So to be able to start the season off with the NFC North rival and obviously get a chance to win. So to start off with the NFC North, you know, start on top and then the division will be big time for us,” said Christian Watson.

“Division games count double. They mean more. There’s no secret what the NFC North is about. I feel like there’s no better test for this team to start on the road in the division week one,” said Zaire Franklin

Despite it being the Vikings, the mindset doesn’t change. The Packers are trading this game just like any other one and this opponent the same.

“If you feel the pressure to be more locked in, that means like you haven’t been doing the work that you were supposed to do in training camp,” said Benjamin St-Juste. “So I feel like there’s more of a sense of confidence in the room right now.”

“I think the early part of the season is always a big challenge and hopefully we’ve done a good enough job of presenting our team, whether it’s offense, defense or special teams with a bunch of different looks to get them prepared for that moment,” said head coach Matt LaFleur.

There are just so many storylines entering week number one. There are new faces on the Packers like Zaire Franklin and Jonnu Smith who are excited to put on the green and gold jerseys. There are guys returning from injury like Marshawn Lloyd and Tucker Kraft that say they are just excited to get back on the field.