Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2023
Crete “Sandy” Esmeralda Ngatoro Buesgens, age 82, of Shakopee passed away on Sunday, August 13, 2023.
Sandy was born January 26, 1941, in Te’ Ararora, New Zealand. She was a Māori. Her mother was Te ‘Hinganoa Pera Ngatoro.
New Zealand, which Māori called Aotearoa, is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses – the North Island (Te Ika-a-Māui) and the South Island (Te Waipounamu) – and more than seven hundred smaller islands.
As she grew up, Sandy attended Te’ Wana o Rerekohu area schools.
In the East Cape of New Zealand, Sandy could visit Gisborne, the first city in the world to see the sunrise. Or she could slide down the Rere Rockslide or walk along New Zealand’s longest pier. Or she could visit the small town of Te Araroa, in the place where she was born.
After graduating from high school, Sandy relocated to Wellington, New Zealand to pursue her career in nursing. In Wellington, Sandy met James Buesgens, who grew up in Belle Plaine. They married at St. Mary of the Angels Catholic Church in Wellington on October 27, 1961.
James Elroy Buesgens, who was born January 26, 1943, was the son of William Buesgens (1892-1968) and Crescence Marie Schug Buesgens (1900-1989).
In 1962, Sandy and Jim moved to Shakopee. They continued to grow their family. They had four children: Shona (married Bob Pulk), Monica Jimece (married James Siegle), Alana Loni (married Albert Trende), and Shane (married Bonnie Luce).
Jim died in a car accident. Sandy and her children lived on Fifth Avenue and Spencer Street in Shakopee.
Sandy worked at St. Francis Hospital for over forty years.
St. Francis Regional Medical Center has a rich tradition of providing quality healthcare for the people living in Minnesota’s Scott, Carver, and western Dakota counties. Emerging in the middle of the Great Depression, when the nearest hospital was thirty miles away in Minneapolis, Shakopee was once an isolated rural city with a population of 2,400, according to St. Francis’s website.
To serve the community, a group of Franciscan sisters sought to open a hospital in Shakopee and, with community support, they purchased the Scott County poorhouse and soon founded St. Francis Hospital and Home in 1938. St. Francis served 128 patients from the surrounding area in its first year.
By the late 1940s, the original hospital could no longer support the expanding healthcare needs of the post-World War II baby boom. In May 1953, a new fifty-bed hospital replaced the former poorhouse to accommodate the area’s population growth. That first St. Francis provided care for more than 1,300 patients from surrounding communities.
In 1982, St. Francis Hospital was renamed St. Francis Regional Medical Center and, in 1987, the Franciscans transferred sponsorship and ownership of the hospital to the Benedictine Sisters at St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth and the Benedictine Health System. By October 1993, a new alliance was formed between St. Francis, the Benedictine Health System and HealthSpan (a predecessor organization of Allina Health).
Growing healthcare needs and exceptional community support enabled the new St. Francis to build and open its current facility in July 1996.
St. Francis is currently jointly owned by Allina Health, HealthPartners Park Nicollet, and Essentia Health. Its Catholic identity is sponsored by the Benedictine Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth. This unique structure combines the caring and compassion of a community hospital with the modern medical technology, specialties and services found in large metropolitan areas. St. Francis provides a full range of inpatient, outpatient and emergency care services on a medical campus with more than thirty other clinics and more than four hundred providers noted, according to the St. Francis website.
After working at St. Francis for over forty years, Sandy retired in 2012.
Her greatest joys in life were spending time with her nine grand and ten great-grandchildren. Her love for them showed through her smile as she lit up every time she saw them.
Sandy spent many mornings enjoying toast and coffee at Wampach’s in downtown Shakopee, she loved playing bingo and hearing the chimes and bells of a winning slot machine she was playing.
She was an amazing cook where friends and family often benefited from recipes she got from one of the beloved cooking shows she watched, especially her homemade egg rolls and strawberry cheesecake. She also spent time with her interests in knitting, ceramics, occasional part-time jobs, and daily walks down Tenth Avenue.
Crete “Sandy” Esmeralda Ngatoro Buesgens, age 82, of Shakopee, passed away on Sunday, August 13, 2023.
Celebration of Life for Sandy was held at McNearney-Schmidt Funeral and Cremation. Sandy was interred at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Belle Plaine.
Bibliography
“History.” St. Francis Regional Medical Center. https://www.stfrancis-shakopee.com/about-us/history/.