![]() Annually, Peter would rent a boat and begin the trip across the water to visit the man. According to Peter, (who never hesitated to “improve” a story a bit), he and the man had come to an understanding. One tale he liked to tell was of an older man who lived a hermit-like existence alone on an island on the Rainey River and never filed his taxes. There were other cases where Peter felt people’s circumstances dictated he shouldn’t disturb them. He believed in doing everything he could to help local businesses who were having good faith tax issues work through their difficulties and stay afloat. The irony of targeting Dad over his IRS employment was how Peter approached his job. At that point, Peter and Marilyn were offered the chance to enter the federal witness protection program, but both said they were not going to be intimidated into leaving behind their friends and family. After months of local drama, the ringleader was arrested, a semi load of weaponry was recovered from the home he was renting on Birchmont Drive, and the ringleader and some of his companions in crime went to prison. ![]() At one point during the 1980s, an anti-government ringleader moved to Bemidji with plans to blow up the federal building and other crimes directed most specifically at the IRS, including assassinating Peter because he happened to be the local IRS agent. They both loved the Bemidji community and their church home at First Lutheran, Peter turning down promotions over the years in order to stay in town. Having passed his CPA exam, in 1962 Peter went to work for the US Treasury Department as an Internal Revenue Service officer he served in that capacity until his retirement.Īfter attending IRS training in Duluth, Peter moved his family to Bemidji, where son Michael was born and where he and Marilyn have lived ever since. Daughters Mary and Karin were born while the family lived in Sunburg. On August 17, 1957, Peter married his one and only true love, Marilyn Sorby, who had just graduated from high school as Valedictorian of her class. After graduation, he worked as a partner with his mother at the family store for five years, also serving as the Sunburg Fire Chief and Justice of the Peace. The one big disappointment of his life was that he developed rheumatic fever as a Senior and afterward was no longer eligible for service.Īt age 19, Peter lost his father to lung cancer from then on, as the oldest son, he did his best to care for his mother and three younger brothers, traveling back and forth from Northfield to Sunburg on his Indian motorcycle. Olaf, Peter was in the Air Force ROTC and planned to become an Air Force pilot. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, graduating in 1956 with a BA in Economics and Political Science. ![]() (Return trip was downhill.) Later, since there were only two students in his grade, both were moved up so Peter graduated from high school at age 16. Beginning at age five, he literally walked a mile uphill to the one room school outside Sunburg. Peter grew up helping his parents in the general store his parents owned in Sunburg, and attending West Norway Lake Lutheran Church where his mother was the organist. His Norwegian heritage remained a passionate interest for him throughout his life. He was baptized at the PA Gandrud residence in Sunburg, MN on Jand grew up in this very small Norwegian town where Norsk was more commonly spoken than English. Peter was born July 3, 1935, in Brooten, MN to Edmund and Alyce (Peterson) Gandrud. Peter Christian Gandrud peacefully departed for heaven Tuesday morning, February 15, at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, after suffering a stroke recently. Services for Peter can be viewed at courtesy of First Lutheran Church.
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