Steven Augustinack

Steven "Gus" Ray Augustinack, 55, of Baxter, died on Wednesday, July 3, 2013 after a three month courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. Gus passed away peacefully surrounded by his wife, children, his extended family and closest friends.

Steve was born on March 27, 1958 in St. Cloud, MN as the first of three children of Raymond and Roselyn Augustinack. Steve attended elementary through high school in the St. Cloud school district and graduated in 1976 from St. Cloud Tech High School. During high school, Steve was actively involved in the music and athletic programs and was captain of the football team his senior year and held several weight lifting honors. Steve graduated from St. Cloud State University in 1981 with a major in computer science and minors in business, music and electronics.

At the age of eight, Gus received his first drum set. As a drummer, Gus was a natural with a steady beat to be the backbone of the many bands he performed with throughout his lifetime. Throughout high school and college, Gus continued to play in the school band, including the jazz and marching bands. In his sophomore year of high school, Gus formed his first band, Fu Man Chu, and continued to play in bands the rest of his life.

During the summers of 1979 and 1980, Gus played drums for the house band, Sea Breeze, at Island View Lodge, now part of the Cragun's Resort, located on Gull Lake where he met the cute, brown eyed front desk clerk, Virginia "Ginger" Bahr. After a four year courtship, Gus and Ginger were married on July 14, 1984 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Brainerd. They made their home in Shoreview, Minnesota where their first two children, Megan and Tony, were born in 1989 and 1991, respectively. In 1996, their third child, Paul was born in Brainerd.

After college in the fall of 1981, Gus accepted a job at West Publishing in St. Paul, Minnesota as a computer software developer for the West Law division. During his career at West, Gus transferred into the multi media group which he led until December 1995. In January of 1996, Gus accepted a job with Universal Pensions and moved the rest of his family to Baxter on Father's Day of 1996 to follow their dream of owning a lake home in the Brainerd Lakes area and to raise their children in a smaller town atmosphere. In the summer of 2000, Gus accepted a new job as the Director of Technology with the Brainerd School District. Then in 2004, Gus changed jobs to work at CTC in Baxter and coordinate the public access television programming in the Brainerd Lakes area as executive producer with Lakes Media Collaborative. Since 2010, Gus operated his own home business, August Enterprises, as a media and computer consultant in the Brainerd area. Also, Gus had the opportunity to mentor his son, Tony, with his start up company, August Digital.

Always eager to lend a helping hand, particularly when a technical problem arose, Gus shared his enthusiasm, knowledge, and good humor with many organizations and boards including the Brainerd and Camp Confidence Sertoma clubs, Brainerd Rotary, Blandin Leadership Group, Northland Arboretum, Crow Wing Power Board, Lakeland Public Television Community Advisory Council, Youth as Resources Board, United Way, Baxter's Long Range Planning Commissioner, Rosenmeier Forum, Brainerd's Healthy Communities Partnership, Brainerd Community Homecoming Committee, and the Brainerd Lakes Community Skateboard Park Committee. One of his favorite endeavors in the Brainerd Lakes area was his chairing the creation of the Sertoma's Winter Wonderland light display at the arboretum for the first several years. He volunteered his computer and media skills unselfishly to so many groups in the Brainerd Lakes area, including Habitat for Humanity, Kinship Partners, the Senior Center and many more groups. In the fall of 2010, Gus was selected as Brainerd's Citizen of the Year.

Gus was a member of the Lord of Life Church, where he was director of technology and the contemporary music group leader. Gus played drums for the Lord of Life contemporary band and often accompanied the choir. In the community, Gus played with the District Band, the Swinging Sertomans, and accompanied the Legacy Choir and the Brainerd Lakes Symphony orchestra.

Steve is survived by his wife, Ginger, and his children, Megan, Tony and Paul, all of Brainerd; and his father, Raymond, St. Cloud, MN; his brother, Dan (Barb), Apple Valley, MN; Susan (Tom) Peterson, Marion, Iowa; his mother-in-law, Dolores Bahr, Brainerd; his brother-in-laws: James (Pat) Bahr, Grand Rapids, MN; Don (Doni) Bahr, Pine River, MN; Charlie (Bonnie), Baxter, MN and sister-in-law, Gretchen (Dennis) Kuseske, Kimball, MN; and niece, Kendra Peterson, and nephews, Christopher and James Augustinack and a large extended family. Steve was preceded in death by his mother, Rose.

Visitation will be held at Lord of Life Church from 4 to 8 pm on Monday, July 8th and one hour before the funeral service. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 am on Tuesday, July 9th with the burial at Baxter Cemetery and luncheon to follow at Lord of Life Church. Memorials are preferred to the Augustinack Family Benefit Fund at Bremer Bank or to Lord of Life Church.