Jane Ehrenberg Glaser
October 18, 1935 – August 15, 2001
Written by her son, Stephen Glaser.
Jane Ehrenberg Glaser was born October 18, 1935, to Mona and Claude Ehrenberg in Duluth, Minn. Claude, or Dr. Ehrenberg, was a very prominent OB/GYN in the Minneapolis area caring for Mothers-to-be for the Cargill, Pillsbury and other prominent families. Mona was a nurse for a hospital. Jane was surrounded by a philosophy of caring for others. Jane loved to teach. Jane also loved animals. She acquired her degree in education. Jane had two boys, Robb and Steve Glaser. She took time off to care for Robb and Steve and never went back to teaching, although it was in her heart. When Robb and Steve were in their teen years Jane got divorced and after a few years moved to Ohio to be closer to her family, as Robb and Steve were getting older and ready to graduate high school.
Jane lived in Minnetonka. Robb and Steve went through the Wayzata school system as they were on the border of the school district lines between the Minnetonka and Wayzata school district. Robb and Steve played hockey from as young as they could through high school. Jane loved going to hockey games and practices. Although Jane was certainly not a morning person, if it involved hockey, she was up well before Robb or Steve getting the coffee ready and checking their equipment and getting it ready. Even for the boring practices Jane was always in the arena supporting “the boys.” Over the years Robb and Steve played football, baseball and other less-organized sports, but Jane’s favorite always was hockey. Nothing matched it.
Jane Ehrenberg with her dad.
One of the jokes about the “Glaser boys” was that no matter where they were in and around the city, they stuck out. Jane worked very hard at home caring for Robb and Steve. With two boys who loved to play in the mud and make messes, the laundry pile was always sky high. Jane spent hours working on laundry. But she probably spent more time ironing. The “Glaser boys” were the only ones in the area that had perfectly ironed blue jeans, with a military crease. That was what Jane did.
Jane had other passions than perfectly creased blue jeans. Jane had a true love of animals, especially horses. She worked at summer camps teaching horse riding. She also enjoyed work with the YWCA. Jane loved the outdoors and spending time in Northern Minnesota. She shared this love with Robb and Steve and that love of the outdoors is still a major part of Robb and Steve’s lives.
Jane moved to a small town in Ohio called Coshocton. She was close to her mother and brother. Jane worked for her brother’s business. Interestingly enough the business worked with school districts and individual schools to develop policies and procedures. Jane loved the small town. Everyone knew each other. Everyone helped each other out.
As the years went on, Jane’s health slowly began to decline. However, she still looked forward to times when Robb and Steve would visit. There was one year a surprise visit was planned. Jane was told by her brother that they needed to go to the airport to pick up a business client. Well that “business client” was Robb and Steve. Because Jane was not in the mentality of looking for her children at the airport, Robb and Steve almost walked right past her. The look on her face was truly priceless. When Robb and Steve would visit, Jane loved talking about Minnesota and what had changed. She really enjoyed talking politics, especially during the time of the Governor Ventura days.
As time went on, it became more and more difficult for her to travel. Steve had a wedding planned in Minnesota in October 1999. It was a very important part of the wedding to have Jane there. It was unknown for a long time if Jane would be able to make the flight from Ohio to Minnesota. Then there would be a long drive from Minneapolis International Airport to the North Shore. Although Steve was living in the Twin Cities, the wedding was being held at Superior Shores, on the rock beach, in Two Harbors. After much planning and work, Jane was able to make it (see photo). Jane had a lot of pain during the last few years of her life, it could be seen in her eyes. Yet this photo is Steve’s favorite. Jane has that look of pride in her eyes. As Steve walked down the aisle, there was a look between Steve and Jane, the look between a mother and son that was indescribable. But that look is one Steve will never forget.
With all the wonderful time spent together at the wedding it would have been unthinkable to imagine that in less than two years Jane would be gone. Over the next two years during phone calls it was apparent Jane was having more and more pain and suffering but she continued to persevere and want to know every little detail about where we grew up, what was happening in the lives of Robb and Steve and his new wife Jackie. During this time, Steve had graduated from St. Cloud State University with a degree in Criminal Justice as he wanted to be a police officer. In late July of 2001 Steve received a job offer with the Carver County Sheriff’s Office. He accepted the offer and began his training. On August 14, 2001, Steve was sworn in as a police officer. There was a ceremony during the swearing-in process that included family. Steve was going to call Jane the day after to explain the pomp and circumstance to her. Unfortunately Steve received a call early the next day that Jane was quite sick and they needed to go to Ohio immediately. Robb and Steve got on the earliest plane and arrived in Ohio around 10 p.m. When Robb and Steve got to the hospital it was discovered Jane had passed away a few hours earlier from complications related to sepsis, on August 14, 2001.
Now began the difficult process for Robb and Steve to grieve the loss, along with having to go through Jane’s belongings in Ohio. As Steve was going through some papers he came across something that was rather amazing. Jane had never once commented about wanting to get back into teaching when she moved to Ohio. However, Steve found an Ohio teachers license in Jane’s name. She never used it. However Jane went through the process, whatever that had been, to transfer her Minnesota education and teaching credentials into whatever Ohio has for a process and get her Ohio teaching license.
Today, Robb and Steve live in the metro area. Robb lives near Maple Plain and owns his own landscaping business. Steve lives in Carver Country with Jackie. Steve still works with the Carver County Sheriff’s Office and is now assigned as a K-9 deputy. Jackie is a Game Warden with the Minnesota DNR. Steve and Jackie have two boys, Kyle who is 5 and Ryan who is 3. That is one thing that is difficult, that Kyle and Ryan did not meet their Grandma. Jane would have been such a wonderful and proud Grandmother. However she also would be so proud knowing she raised two sons, one who went on to own and run his own business and the other who became a police officer and was able to become a police K-9 officer.