Barbara Gustin

As the day began on January 3, 2024, Barbara Ann Gustin left her body and was set free into Infinite Love.  She was surrounded by miracles, beauty, and love until her last gentle breath. Our hearts break for the loss of this powerful, selfless, kind and glorious woman.  Barbara was a treasure and light to all she knew.

Barbara Ann Speltz was born August 8, 1948 in Winona Minnesota to J. Francis and Shirley Speltz.  Her first marriage brought  three loving children: Laura Ludwig; Sara Wood; and Michael Bruggeman.  She met the love of her life, Dennis Gustin, in 1979.  They were married 44 years: working hard, traveling the world, enjoying life, and raising their three children with love.  Barbara was a true Renaissance woman who worked as a chemist, a programmer, and finally as an entrepreneur and founder of Memories By Design.  All the while, she was a dancer, a cook, an adventurer, a friend, a loving wife, sister, mother, grandmother– a Queen.  Everything she did was with her full heart, with her meticulous eye for beauty and with her deep compassion and understanding.  She made anyone’s life she touched better, and her joy was infectious.  Dementia took her mind and body too soon; but the life she was given was fully lived.

Barbara was preceded in death by her parents; her first husband Wayne Bruggeman, her son Michael Bruggeman; brothers Timothy and Nicholas Speltz; and sisters Ann Marie Speltz and Cynthia Marie Gipp.  Funeral Mass and celebration of life will occur this summer.

Ever-ready for music to fill her body, the first on the dance floor, and the last to want to say goodbye– we could never get enough of you, Barbara Ann.  Your love will live on in every step we take.  Thank you for the gift of you.