Established on 11.13.2018 by Curt '72 and Sandy '72 Nielsen
Curt and Sandy Nielsen met after their freshman year at Concordia, as they sang in the Concordia’s New Pace Singers, singing and preaching in churches, bible camps, and prisons throughout Montana during the summer of 1968. On return to college, the group continued to present the Gospel message and then decided to take a year off from college and present the Gospel message throughout the United States and Canada, under the auspices of the then American Lutheran Church. During that year, Curt and Sandy became much more than close friends and became a married couple in 1971.
Upon return to Concordia in the fall of 1969, Curt completed a degree in hospital and healthcare administration and Sandy a degree in elementary education. Most of their careers and life were spent in beautiful Brainerd, Minnesota. Curt started out as Associate Administrator of Joseph’s Medical Center hospital and then joined the Brainerd Medical Center clinic as their Administrator and helped the clinic grow to 50 physicians before retiring in 2008. Sandy enjoyed teaching various grades within the Brainerd school system, including various grades in five different schools within the district…. loving just about every minute of it. Sandy retired a few months before Curt.
They are blessed with five grandkids, which has led to great joy, pride, and a galore of sports and music activities to attend. Those five kids give them no reason to just sit around at home.
"Where would we be without music? It seeps into our souls and helps form who we are. From our high school instructors, Don Danielson and Orv Eidem, to Concordia‘s Dr. J Robert Hanson and Dr. Paul J Christianson, we know that music educators have transformed our lives and filled our hearts."
Creating this endowed scholarship is a way for the Nielsens to thank music teachers and encourage students to study music and spread the joy.
The Curt and Sandy Nielsen Music Education Endowed Scholarship is awarded by the Office of Financial Aid to a sophomore, junior or senior student(s) majoring in education, with preference given to music education.