Rebecca "Beckie" Lynn Sandstrom (Ries) | January 21, 1953 - August 14, 2022

Rebecca “Beckie” Lynn Sandstrom (Ries) passed away peacefully on August 14, 2022, after spending her last days with family and friends. Beckie was born on January 21, 1953, to Herman and Maxine (Clifton) Ries in Mobridge, South Dakota. She was baptized at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, where she would also make her first communion and confirmation, and was a member of the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. She was also a lifetime member of the Mobridge American Legion Auxiliary. In her early school years, Beckie took piano lessons and played the trombone in the band. Throughout high school she was in FHA, Pep Club, Rousers, and was awarded the Three Year Attendance Medal. She worked as a waitress at The Wheel Restaurant (currently Great Plains). She graduated in 1971 from Mobridge High School, where she then ventured off to Aberdeen, South Dakota to attend Stewart’s Beauty School. While attending school and working she met her future husband. In July 1978, she married the man that would bless her with four children and gave her the opportunity to travel the world through the military. Colleen (Coco) April was born in 1979, Joseph (Joe) Anthony in 1981, Heidi Lynn in 1982, and Abigail (Abby) Maxine in 1984. Beckie provided in-home childcare until all of her children were of school age before taking on positions at the school and at the church on the Air Force Base in which she resided at the time. Beckie was a vital support person in the lives of many military wives in which lifelong friendships were made. She loved helping others and put everyone before herself. After moving to Minnesota in 1998, Beckie continued to work as a childcare provider and lastly as the manager of a dry cleaners in Chaska. Beckie had a benign brain tumor in 2006. She returned to work but retired shortly after that. As Beckie’s kids grew older and expanded the family, she was blessed with six grandchildren. Gianna, Josie, Lydia, Layla, Killian, and Trinity. Her grandchildren were her world and she spent as much time with them as possible. Beckie also loved to spend time with her kids, play bingo, go to the movies, go to restaurants, take road trips to South Dakota,, arts and crafts projects, rodeos, demolition derbys, pow wows, and watching her grand daughters cheer at high school sporting events. Throughout her life, Beckie lived in Mobridge, Aberdeen, and McLaughlin, South Dakota; Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Grand Forks Air Force Base, Grand Forks, North Dakota; Kirtland Air Force Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Waldmohr and Ramstein Air Force Base, Germany; Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho; Chaska, Winsted, and finally Chanhassen, Minnesota. She is survived by, her children, Joe (Dana) Sandstrom of Mayer, MN, Heidi Sandstrom of Chanhassen, MN, Abby Sandstrom of Mobridge, SD, her six grandchildren Gianna, Josie, Lydia, Layla, Killian, and Trinity, her sister Cathy Ricketts of Selby, SD, her brothers Ed (Jacki) of Mobridge, SD, Nick (Kim) Ries of Chanhassen, MN, lifelong friends Sheila Stoick of Mobridge, SD, Carmela Frost of Long Beach, Mississippi, and Debbie Sawyer Arnold of Grantsboro, NC, and many nieces, nephews, family, and friends. Beckie was preceded in death by her daughter, Colleen Nickerson; grand angel baby, Thomas Jay Nickerson; Mother and Father, Herman and Maxine Ries; sister Julie Gustafson, brother-in-law Larry Kosters, Grandma and Grandpa Ries and Clifton, and in-laws Dorothy and Robert Sandstrom. Beckie’s Celebration of Life will be on Friday, August 19 with visitation starting at 3 PM and the service at 4 PM at Bertas Funeral Home in Chaska, MN. Burial will be at St. Hubert’s Cemetery in Chanhassen immediately following the service. Join us for a party in Celebrating Beckie’s Life at The Outpost Center in Chaska at 630 PM.