Funeral services for Reverend Lowell and Sharon Asplund of Butterfield, Minnesota, will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, February 14, 2015, at the First Lutheran Church in St. James, Minnesota. The church is located at 716 6th Avenue South.
Visitation will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, February 13, 2015, at Sturm Funeral Home-St. James Chapel, located at 906 10th Avenue South. A second visitation will be held at the church the day of the funeral services from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Reverend Lowell and Sharon Asplund passed away due to injuries received in an automobile accident near Echo, Minnesota on Friday, February 6, 2015.
Lowell Asplund was born in Minneapolis on November 4, 1941, the son of Carl and Ellen (Evenson) Asplund. Lowell grew up in Minneapolis and began working in his father’s grocery store at an early age. He worked his way through college, obtaining a Bachelor’s Degree in History/Religion from Augsburg College in Minneapolis in 1965. He also worked at Fairview Hospital as an orderly while attending school at Luther Seminary until he graduated in 1970. He received his first call to Brewster, Kansas, in 1970 and also worked with local farmers at harvest time until 1973. He then served the Martin Luther Lutheran Church in rural Johnson, Nebraska. He received the call to return to Minnesota in 1979.
It was with great joy that Lowell and Sharon responded to the call to return to Minnesota and serve in Lake Wilson, Minnesota. He later went on to minister at American and Rock Valley Lutheran Church in Echo before becoming pastor at First Lutheran Church in Butterfield and Long Lake Lutheran Church in St. James. He worked with United in Faith Ministries, serving Butterfield, St. James, and Darfur, Minnesota from 2006-2009. Lowell was most currently serving as pastor at First Lutheran in Butterfield and Bethlehem Lutheran in Darfur.
Sharon Asplund was born on February 19, 1941 near Rapidan, Minnesota, the daughter of Jearold and Ethel (Vrooman) Diesch. Sharon grew up on a farm and the family moved to Lake Crystal, Minnesota, where she graduated from high school. She attended the nursing program at Fairview in Minneapolis and became the Director of Nursing in the psychiatry department. Later she worked with developmentally-delayed children and then with adults at the Murray County DAC (Development Achievement Center) in Slayton, Minnesota. Sharon returned to patient care at the nursing home,after the couple moved to Echo.
Together, the couple enjoyed traveling to see son David and his family, bowling and spending time with their relatives, friends and church family.
Survivors include, their son, David (Susan) Asplund of Portales, New Mexico; grandson, Jearold Asplund; sister-in-law, Joan Diesch of Mankato, Minnesota; nieces and nephews, Janeen (Jamisen) Swenson, Doni (Matthew) Vine, Robert (Carla) Diesch, Robin (Chris) DeCathelineau, Jim (Kathy) Diesch, Jody (William) Keller, Jackie (Donald) Jorgensen and Brian (Cheryl) Thomas; many cousins, and great nieces and nephews.
They were preceded in death by their parents; siblings, Carol Thomas, Barbara Larson, Gregory (Barbara) Larson, Richard Diesch and Jearold Diesch, Jr; nephew, Richard Diesch, Jr, and niece, Diane Larson.
